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THE CATHOLIC NURSE 

























































































THE CATHOLIC NURSE 

Her Spirit and Her Duties 


RICHARD J. MURPHY, S. J. 

St. Ignatius College , Riverviezv , 
Sydney , Australia 


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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 
THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY 





Liber cui titulus “The Catholic Nurse” a P. Ricardo J. Murphy, 
S. J., conscriptus, Imprimi potest 

F. X. McMENAMY, S. J., 

Praepositus Provincia Missourianae 


Nihil Obstat 

HENRY B. RIES 

Censor Deputatus 


Imprimatur 


•b S. G. MESSMER 


Archiepiscopus Milwauchiensis 


April 14, 1923. 



c t * 


Copyright, 1923 
Richard J. Murphy, S. J. 


Printed in the United States of America 


JUN -4 1923 


©C1A704758 


1'C j 





I‘t3*3. 


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FOREWORD 

T HE Catholic nurse! This title is full of meaning. 
A nurse worthy of the name Catholic will em¬ 
body in her private and personal life all that is 
best in human nature and all that is true and most 
impelling in Christ’s religion. She will know Christ 
and love Christ as the Great Man, the Good Samari¬ 
tan, the One who went about doing good, the meek 
and gentle Good Shepherd, the Friend and Brother of 
us all, the hater of sin and the lover of the sinner, 
the kindly, loving Companion of the poor, the helper 
of the rich, the lover of truth, and the scourge of 
hypocrisy, but the benefactor of simple children and 
all those suffering in body and mind. She will believe 
in Christ and worship Christ as God, as the Divine 
Father, Brother and Saviour of all mankind, as the 
eternal God who still lives amongst men in His sacra¬ 
mental presence, consoling, comforting and strength¬ 
ening all those who take Him into their lives by faith 
and good works for the establishment of His kingdom 
on earth. Living by the spirit of Christ’s religion 
she will be strong, she will be gentle, she will not fail 
in the difficulties and trials and temptations of her 
laborious profession, she will not be sad but happy, 
she will be joyous but not frivolous. She will be cul¬ 
tured and refined and yet with all simple, forceful and 
effective. The nurse who takes Christ in the spirit 
of deep faith as her Friend, her Brother, her Father, 
her Redeemer and her God, will have within her soul 
a strength that will lift her above the pettiness of self 
unto the greatness of Christ by a force that comes 
from God alone, from the religion which Christ and 
the Father and the Holy Spirit are keeping alive 
amongst men today and by which those of real faith 
are being lifted out of themselves and above them¬ 
selves into a Christliness of life and achievement 
which is more than human, which partakes of the 
angelic and the divine. All this and more should the 
Catholic nurse be and become. 




Father Richard J. Murphy, S. J., has written a book 
of rare interest and value. Its style is characterized 
by simple elegance. The topics treated in the twenty 
chapters quite thoroughly cover the whole range of 
nursing activity. The duties of the nurse are set forth 
in gentle but firm and withal, in an appealing and 
convincing breadth. Though there may be room here 
and there for the experienced mind to differ some from 
Father Murphy’s views, he is so well in line with rec¬ 
ognized authorities that differences of opinion, if any, 
will be slight. 

However, if I mistake not, the charm of the book 
and its subtle, insinuating influence will be found in 
those chapters, those paragraphs, those sentences, 
those phrases and words in which Father Murphy sets 
forth the spirit of the nurse. This wonderful little 
book is like a delicate flower, emitting a sweet odor 
of piety, gentleness, kindness which will be sure to 
please and influence all readers; but in a very special 
manner will creep into the life of the nurse with its 
strong yet gentle appeal, so unobtrusively and yet 
surely, that no nurse can read the book without being 
benefited for life. 

This book should be in large numbers in every one 
of our training schools. It should be in the hands of 
every pupil nurse during her training and continue, 
as a life companion to be read from time to time 
throughout all her years of active duty. The clergy, 
the laity, and the medical profession will be benefited 
by reading this book because it will help them to see 
what a really Catholic nurse should be and perhaps it 
will inspire all to help every nurse with whom they 
come in contact to live up to the beautiful ideals of 
her profession. 

God bless Father Murphy for the writing of this 
precious book. 


C. B. MOULINIER, S. J. 


PREFACE 


T HE substance of most of the following chapters was 
originally delivered in the form of lectures to the 
nurses of a Catholic training school. These lec¬ 
tures have been re-written, and some chapters on cognate 
subjects have been added in the present volume. The 
whole is given to publication in the hope that a wider 
public may thus be reached, and that many young girls 
who are entering the nursing profession, or have entered 
it, may be aided along the difficult path which they have 
elected to follow. 

The great danger facing those engaged in the career 
of nursing at the present day is that they may lose sight 
of its high ideals. This is, undoubtedly, an age of ma¬ 
terialism. The faith of many is weak, and their charity 
has grown cold. The atmosphere, therefore, in which 
the nurse must work is often not such as to foster in 
her the ideals that belong so peculiarly to her profession. 

Furthermore, the advance of medical science in mod¬ 
ern times means that much greater demands are now 
made upon a nurse’s mental and physical powers than 
formerly. The importance rightly attached to perfection 
in the nurse’s technique and methods, the amount of 
study needed to master the knowledge now required of 
every trained nurse, and the strain of constant and ardu¬ 
ous duties during long hours, may quite easily prevent 
a nurse from realizing that her training and her work 
have a higher and more spiritual side. She may allow 
herself to become narrow in her mental outlook, hard 
and selfish in her feelings, and devoid of conscience and 
that religious instinct which should inspire, guide and 





6 


The Catholic Nurse 


sustain every Catholic nurse. It is in the hope that what 
is here written may enable those who read it to avoid 
these dangers to a successful career, and help them to 
push forward courageously towards the high goal of 
perfection in their noble calling, that these pages are now 
given to the world. 

I wish to thank W. D. Harrison, Esq., for help kindly 
given in the preparation of these pages, and H. M. 
Moran, Esq., M. B., Syd., F. R. C. S. (Edin.), for ad¬ 
vice on many medical questions. 


R. J. Murphy, S. J. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION . 

Chapter 

I— THE YEARS OF TRAINING 

Nursing demands a true vocation — Mistaken 
notions about nursing—True nursing—Desire to 
nurse not sufficient—Happiness of nursing—How 
can the nurse train herself best—The less obvious 
side of training—The training of character—What 
is character? . 

II— THE YEARS OF TRAINING (continued) 

Guiding principles—Trustworthiness — Thorough¬ 
ness—Obedience—Strength of character may be 
acquired—Strength must be united to tenderness— 
The need of charity—Selfishness most opposed 
to nursing . 

III— THE HOSPITAL 

Beginning a new life—Obligations towards hospi¬ 
tal—Obligations of hospital to nurse—Loyalty to 
hospital—An enemy to loyalty—Dealings with 
companions—Generous judgments of others—Kill¬ 
ing enthusiasm in others—Loyal service changes 
to service of love. 

IV— IN THE WARDS 

Nursing an art—Acquired at bedside of sick— 
Patients—How to regard them—Sympathy—Go¬ 
ing to school by bedside of sick—Knowledge of 
patients at first hand—The case-hardened nurse— 
Persistent effort necessary for success. 

V— FIDELITY TO RELIGIOUS DUTIES 

Need of solid religious character—The Catholic 
nurse in the world—Her faith exposed to many 
dangers—She has to meet hostility and prejudice 
of others—Danger from nature of nurse’s work— 
The antidote—Moral questions involved in nurse’s 
work—Nurse’s life irregular—Practical religion.. 


PAGE 

11-15 


17-23 


24-29 


30-38 


39-44 


45-52 








CONTENTS—Continued 


VI— DRUGS AND ALCOHOL 

The drug habit an evil of today—Has small be¬ 
ginnings— Temptation is great — Alcohol — Evil 
consequences of taking drugs—Special danger or 
alcohol—Nurse must use utmost caution in using 
drugs—All drugs detrimental to nurse’s work— 
Warning to nurses. 

VII— UNLAWFUL WORK 

Matter of grave concern—Destruction of life of 
unborn child—Attitude of nurse—Clinical cases— 
Medical decisions must be governed by moral 
law—Catholic teaching—Lawful practice—Craniot¬ 
omy unlawful—Ultimate responsibility rests with 
doctor—Charitable judgments—Other cases a 
nurse may meet with—Proper course for nurse to 
take . 

VIII— THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS 

Nurses may have spiritual duties—Difficulty of 
performing these—Efforts to assist patients in 
spiritual things—Baptism, necessity of—A nurse’s 
responsibilities — Various cases ■—Baptism under 
difficult circumstances—Intrauterine baptism. 

IX— HOLY COMMUNION OF THE SICK 

The desire of Christ—What a nurse should 
know—Preparation of patient—The room—Method 
of communicating the sick—Nurse’s duties—Diffi¬ 
culties in regard to Holy Communion of the sick— 
Causes prohibiting reception of this Sacrament— 
Accidents—The law of fasting for the sick. 

X— WHEN DEATH THREATENS 

Extreme Unction — Nurse concerned only with 
preparations—Teaching of faith in regard to Ex¬ 
treme Unction—Preparation of patient—Disposi¬ 
tions of soul—The nurse’s duty—How the nurse 
may fit herself to help. 

XI— PRIVATE NURSING 

Differences of hospital and private nursing— 
Difficulties of private nursing — The nurse in 
strange surroundings—The nurse and the family— 
No rule possible to meet all cases—Hints to guide 
a nurse on private cases.. 


PAGE 


53-58 


59-67 


68-74 


75-79 


80-84 


85-90 








CONTENTS—Continued 


XII— SOME DANGERS OF PRIVATE NURSING 

Private practice attractive—Has many advan¬ 
tages—Also many dangers—Various sources of 
these — Nursing male cases — The personal ele¬ 
ment—Dangerous, but necessary in good nursing— 
Its value to patients—Nurse must be on her 
guard—Dealings with medical profession. 

XIII— SOME DIFFICULTIES OF PRIVATE 

NURSING 

Some practical matters — Tact and good man¬ 
ners— The true measure of nursing—Exacting 
situation — Need of self-training—Economy in 
management of sick—Extravagance or wasteful¬ 
ness always bad—Case in ill-equipped home— 
Clever nurse manages—Status of nurse—Nurse’s 
dignity — Nurses not servants — Have right to 
sufficient help—Apartments of nurse—What the 
nurse must aim at. 


XIV—NIGHT DUTY 

Sickness demands night work—Problems of night 
duty — Scientific and moral — Night duty tests 
nurse’s character and judgment—Also her watch¬ 
fulness and devotion to duty—Dangers of night 
duty—Male cases—Relaxation of discipline—Un¬ 
truthfulness . 


XV—THE NURSE’S SECRET 

The hippocratic oath — Professional secret — A 
secret defined—Three kinds of secrets—Violation 
of secret is sometimes permitted—Importance of 
doctrine to nurse—What to do in difficult cases— 
Who has right to nurse’s knowledge—Rights of 
doctors, patients and friends—Secrecy in regard 
to knowledge obtained while nursing. 


XVI—TRUTHFULNESS AND HONESTY 

Need of truthfulness in the nurse—She must train 
herself in this—Responsibility of nurse—Nursing 
in social work—Its effect destroyed by untruthful 
or dishonest nurse—Two causes of untruthful¬ 
ness—How it injures a nurse’s career. 


PAGE 


91-97 


98-106 


107-112 


113-119 


120-125 







CONTENTS—Concluded 


XVII—DISCRETION 

To keep secrets and speak truth—Difficulty of 
this—Discretion necessary to succeed—Nurse must 
train herself—Discretion among nurse’s greatest 
assets—Injury done by indiscretion — Discretion 
in regard to patients—In regard to the hospital— 
In the nurse’s family and among her friends— 
Indiscretion due to vanity of nurse—It destroys a 
nurse’s chances of work. 

XVIII—ON CALL 

The meaning of this—A nurse may specialize— 
Complaints — Picking cases — Dilatoriness in re¬ 
sponding to calls—The right rule—The matter of 
remuneration—Promptitude—Punctuality . 

XIX— A GOOD TIME AND BAD INFLUENCES 

Effect of years of training—The life awaiting the 
nurse—Useful—Happy—Anxious moments-—Two 
temptations—Having a good time—When this 
temptation comes—To fall a victim is unworthy 
of nurse—Danger of unprincipled women—Dan¬ 
ger arising from unworthy nurses—Warning to 
nurses . 

XX— NON-CATHOLIC PATIENTS 

Catholic nurse’s attitude to such patients—Those 
who are dying—When the nurse is appealed to for 
help — Giving information — Hearing Mass on 
Sundays — The law of fasting and abstinence — 
Concluding remarks—A nurse’s prayer. 


PAGE 


126-131 


132-135 


136-141 


142-147 






Introduction 

IDEALS OF THE CATHOLIC NURSE 

"Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these 
my least brethren, you did it unto me” — Matt. 25. 

I T HAS been said with much truth that the art of heal¬ 
ing, when moulded by religious principles, is the 
noblest of all human arts. To claim, therefore, that 
the profession of nursing is one of the highest careers 
open to Catholic women living in the world, is indulg¬ 
ing in no mere platitude. But no career can be a success 
in the true sense, unless it is inspired by some powerful 
ideal. What, therefore, is that ideal which should ani¬ 
mate the heart of the Catholic nurse, which should 
possess her soul with a supernatural energy, which should 
make her proof against the dangers incidental to her 
work, and give her strength in the difficulties she is cer¬ 
tain to encounter? This ideal cannot be found in the 
mere excellence of technique, in the depth of a nurse’s 
knowledge, or in any material reward given to a nurse’s 
service. Something more is required.' It is love, for 
love is the foundation of all service. Most of all is it the 
foundation of that service which the nurse gives to men 
' in their hour of utmost need. The greatest men, the 
greatest saints, the disciples of Our Lord, and Our Lord 
Himself, have all but one voice—love. Love is the true 
secret of service, and for the Catholic nurse it must be 
her supreme ideal. But this love must not be something 
of earth, a love that is merely philanthropic, a love that 
inspires one to relieve suffering only because it is hideous, 
or cruel, or unpleasant to our senses. Such love is un¬ 
worthy of the name and quickly passes, leaving the heart 


12 


The Catholic Nurse 


empty and cold. The love which must inspire the true 
nurse is not of earth, but of heaven. It is the love of 
God which is the genuine and undying source of real 
love of men. What is wanted then above all things is 
that love of God which makes us love all men as we love 
ourselves. The first and greatest commandment is to 
love the Lord thy God, and the second is like unto this, to 
love our neighbor as ourselves. With this love strong in 
her heart, the nurse can do all things; without it—nothing 
worth while is possible for her. In her dealings with the 
sick and suffering iwhom Providence has placed in her 
care, the nurse must cherish such a love as Christ, the 
Master Healer, had, which 

" * * * made Him wander in our pilgrim weed, 

And taste our torments to relieve our yieed.” 

As she goes forth to her work each day, she must 
remember that more is needed than fingers skilfully 
trained to handle the sick or eyes keen to observe the 
dangerous symptom, or even knowledge quick to apply 
the appointed remedy. These, indeed, are required of 
the nurse, but much more is necessary if she is to attain 
perfection in her career. She must have besides these 
natural accomplishments, a tender, generous, ardent love 
of those suffering fellow-beings committed to her care. 
She must, in truth, have a love which “beareth all things, 
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things/' 
and which devotes itself to all unceasingly until it has 
given of its best to everyone in need. Happy indeed is 
the nurse who possesses the true ideal, and understands 
that love’s secret is the perfect service of the sick for the 
sake of Christ. 



Introduction 


13 


Furthermore, the Catholic nurse has a mission to ful¬ 
fil. Her work, if well accomplished, has more in it than 
the actual healing of disease. All those who are intelli¬ 
gently interested in hospital work fully understand that 
the Catholic Church has at all times and in all places 
thrown the mantle of her protection around her sick and 
suffering children. At the cost of sacrifices innumerable 
she has proved her tender solicitude for the lambs of the 
flock that Christ loves. Therefore, in order to fulfill her 
great commission, she regards as a pre-eminently precious 
work the establishment and maintenance of hospitals for 
the care of the sick and suffering. Through these chan¬ 
nels of mercy which embrace under their sway the deepest 
concerns of the life that now is and those of that which 
is to come, the Church accomplishes her Divine destiny 
and exerts a positive influence for good throughout the 
whole range of human interests. Since this is so it will 
readily be seen that the work of ministering to the sick 
merits the confidence and respect of all true Christians. 
It is consecrated by the command and example of 
Jesus, and these combine to give it nothing less than a 
first place in the Christian system. His command was 
received and acted upon by His followers then, and like¬ 
wise through all the ages. To-day when the sick and sor¬ 
rowful are still the objects of the Divine Saviour’s com¬ 
passion, His true disciples, aided by all the beneficent re¬ 
sources now at the disposal of medical science, are still 
pouring a balm of inestimable power for good—a very 
balm of Gilead—over the sorrows of humanity. The 
means of perfectly fulfilling the Divine Command in this 
matter are abundantly provided by the Church, and are 
brought within the reach of every true follower of Christ. 



H 


The Catholic Nurse 


To the faithful discharge of the duty of ministering to the 
sick, every true nurse is called by the most sacred and 
conclusive of warrants; and upon no principle can its 
neglect be justified, so long as occasions for its exercise 
are present—while there is yet a remnant of suffering 
humanity. 

We are justified, therefore, in claiming as we did at 
the beginning, that amongst the highest callings for Cath¬ 
olic women living in the world ranks the profession of 
nursing. We freely admit, at the outset, that, in entering 
upon this career, it is not a bed of roses which the young 
nurse is choosing for herself. The life, like every other 
great work, has its inevitable trials, dangers and tempta¬ 
tions ; all these are fully referred to in later pages. De¬ 
spite these difficulties, however, the command has been 
given, and it is for those who have been privileged to hear 
it, to obey. Who can so easily and naturally fulfil Christ’s 
command to love one another as the Catholic nurse, en¬ 
lightened as she is by her faith, and supernaturally forti¬ 
fied by the practice of her religion? She gives to others, 
not merely the “cup of cold water” mentioned by Our 
Lord, but the very best that is in her for the sake of 
Christ. She perhaps more than others, will recognize 
the power and meaning of those other words of Christ: 
“I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, 
and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took 
me in; naked, and you clothed me. Amen, I say to you, 
as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, 
you did it unto Me.” This is the ideal which the Master 
puts before those who would follow Him most closely 
and ardently, and the secret of that ideal is love, for love 
is ever the true foundation of service. To serve Him in 



Introduction 


15 


this spirit should be the inspiration of the nurse’s life, 
giving her strength in weakness, courage in difficulties, 
confidence in doubt, and hope in all things. 

It may be objected here by some that those rewards 
and spiritual blessings so abundantly promised by Our 
Divine Lord apply solely to those engaged in the care 
of the sick without temporal reward. This is not so. 
The nurse belongs to the world, and has a place to main¬ 
tain in it. She must live, and “the labourer is worthy 
of his hire”; therefore, she is justly entitled to the pay¬ 
ment she receives as a necessity and a reward for her 
services. But this is purely a secondary consideration. 
The true Catholic nurse recognizes well that while any¬ 
thing that is undertaken solely for sordid profit or ma¬ 
terial advantage always ends in failure, everything that is 
done in renunciation of self and in devotion to Christ has 
proved an inexhaustible source of individual happiness, 
and of permanent benefit to the world. 

Therefore, Catholic nurses, cherish reverence for the 
great ideals of your profession. From out the little 
sphere in which you now serve Him, the influence of 
your life will spread. Dedicate this life to Him in small 
things as well as in great, for things apparently common¬ 
place are all parts of a divine work. In this way you 
will make routine the school of heroism; you will learn 
that the love of duty is the strength of heroes; and your 
entire self will be quickened, revisited and illumined with 
a holy light—the light of the Eternal Ideal. 




Chapter I 

THE YEARS OF TRAINING 

“The work that tells us the work of the skilful hand directed 
by the cool head and inspired by the loving heart.” 

—Florence Nightingale. 

N URSING, like every other profession, demands a 
true vocation in those who devote themselves to it. 
By this is meant that the girl who adopts this walk 
of life must have, besides a worthy motive, those apti¬ 
tudes or qualities which will respond to the duties and 
calls to be made upon her by her training and her after- 
career. 

A girl who seeks in nursing either amusement, a good 
time, an easy means of making money, or an entree to the 
marriage market, makes a grievous mistake. Again, to 
quote the words of Florence Nightingale, “A woman who 
takes the sentimental view of nursing (which she calls 
‘ministering’ as if she were an angel) is, of course, worse 
than useless. A woman possessed of the idea that she is 
making a sacrifice will never do. A woman who thinks 
any kind of nursing-work beneath a nurse will simply be 

in the way.” 

To aspire to the work of nursing is a high and noble 
ambition. ^True nursing is not merely to secure an hon¬ 
ourable means of livelihood; but rather to employ those 
gifts with which God endows every true woman, in the 
service of suffering humanity. It is to give oneself that 
others may have; to do for those that cannot do for 
themselves; to suffer oneself that others may suffer less 
or live longer; or, if to die, that they may die better pre¬ 
pared. It is, in a word, the noble desire of earning for 


i8 


The Catholic Nurse 


oneself that life record of the Divine Healer Himself, so 
well epitomised in those beautiful words, “He went about 
doing good.” This is true nursing. r 

On the other hand, a mere desire to nurse is not suf¬ 
ficient in itself to justify a girl in undertaking this work. 
The desire must be accompanied by gifts of head and 
heart of no ordinary kind. This is evident to anyone 
who reflects. In the first place, the trainee needs must 
undergo a severe course of study; she must also submit 
to the restraint and discipline of a large institution; she 
will be obliged to undertake great responsibilities—often 
those of life and death; and she will find herself brought 
into daily and hourly intercourse with people of all 
classes, and frequently under the most trying circum¬ 
stances. All these things will make demands upon her 
far beyond the demands made upon her sisters engaged 
in less arduous walks of life. 

* ■ 

The smallest experience of hospital life serves to 
bring home very forcibly the truth of these words, “If 
there is any nonsense in peoples’ ideas of what hospital 
nursing is, one day of real duty will root it out. There 
are things to be done and seen which at once separate 
the true metal from the tinkling brass.” It is clear, 
therefore, that the simple desire to join the nursing pro¬ 
fession is not sufficient to justify a girl in selecting it as 
her life’s work. 

But given those qualities that go to the making of 
the efficient nurse, the probationer will be happy and con¬ 
tented in the discharge of her duties. Each day will call 
upon those deeper and finer qualities of her womanhood 
which, perhaps, have hitherto been latent. Her mind 
will grow more alert; her character will be formed in a 
new and stronger mould, it becomes enriched with a ten- 



The Years of Training 


19 


derness and sympathy which the environment of suffer¬ 
ing rarely fails to evoke. The nurse will have her trials 
and difficulties, her disappointments and failings, her 
bright days and also her dark ones; but through it all 
she will possess a serenity of soul and an abundance of 
peace springing from the consciousness that she fits into 
that place in life which Providence intended for her, from 
the knowledge that she is steadily advancing onward, 
and from the assurance that success will ultimately re¬ 
ward her efforts. Day by day the grandeur of her calling 
will dawn more fully upon her mind. She will become 
more conscious of its nobility. She will realise its possi¬ 
bilities more fully. New powers attained will give greater 
strength and confidence. Things at first hard and unin¬ 
telligible will begin gradually to take shape and meaning. 
Appeals will be made to all that is best within her, and 
as she grows in the knowledge of all that nursing means, 
she will devote herself with deeper enthusiasm and joy 
to each task which she meets in her daily round of duties. 

How then can a young girl who feels in herself both 
the desire and the capabilities of a nurse secure for her¬ 
self the best that is to be found in these years of train¬ 
ing? At the outset of her career she must put to herself 
this question. For just in the measure in which she an¬ 
swers it, and lives up to all the answer reveals to her, 
will she succeed. To help her in this enquiry it may be 
said in the first place, that in a nurse’s training it is not 
the obvious which is of greatest importance. This is true 
of most callings in life. But on account of the very na¬ 
ture of nursing it is, perhaps, of greater significance to 
the nurse herself than to anyone else. Now, no one will 
gainsay or deny the importance or the difficulty of a 



20 


The Catholic Nurse 


nurse’s course of training. The education required of 
nurses has advanced a great deal in modern times. The 
courses of study have been so elaborated, the standards 
of efficiency have been raised to such a degree, that to 
secure success in the final tests involves an immense 
strain upon the strength and physique of the candidate. 
Again, this strain is unremitting throughout the period 
of training. It is required that the trainee shall make 
constant and steady advance in knowledge and skill. Fre¬ 
quent tests are applied throughout the course, and prac¬ 
tice under the eye and direction of others, is unceasing. 
The importance and the difficulty of these years is, there¬ 
fore, quite clear. 

Yet there is the other side of the nurse’s training. 
It is less obvious but more important for the nurse who 
wishes to be truly efficient. By this less obvious side of 
her work in the hospital, we mean that training and de¬ 
velopment of character, without which it is impossible to 
acquire perfection in this career. We may truly call it 
the spiritual side of hospital training. Though it is not 
directly a part of religion, yet it greatly demands a true 
and earnest religious spirit. For the girl whose religion 
is shallow, whose faith is weak, whose perception of spir¬ 
itual truths is dull, can scarcely hope to develop a char¬ 
acter capable of withstanding the tests a nurse’s life has 
in store for her. For such a girl the way in life lies along 
other paths. Nursing is not for her. 

Again, this training of character is not by any means 
opposed to the technical training or the scientific educa¬ 
tion of the nurse. It can neither supplant these nor take 
in any way from their importance. Rather does it tran¬ 
scend them all and give them a value they have not in 



The Years of Training 


21 


themselves. Unfortunately, this side of her training, be¬ 
cause less striking, may be overlooked by the trainee. 
Should this happen, it will be not only to her own great 
loss and perhaps, to her undoing, but also to the great 
loss of those who will be brought into contact with her 
during her whole career. 

This matter is worth a little further consideration. 
It is clear to all who know the nurse’s life and work, that 
in the really efficient nurse, one quality stands out beyond 
all others. It has more value than excellence of tech¬ 
nique or method, or good manners, or even general will¬ 
ingness to do one’s best. This quality is all important. 
It is the source of all other qualities. With it there is 
nothing the nurse may not achieve; without it, she will 
ever fall sadly short of that perfection which her calling 
demands of her. This quality is called strength of char¬ 
acter. In the making of a nurse, strength of character 
is of fundamental importance. She may have many other 
adornments of soul or body, but if she lacks a strong 
character, she lacks an essential quality of a good nurse. 

Judith of old adorned herself with rich garments and 
costly jewels and precious stones. But God, we are told, 
added to her “beauty of soul.” It was in virtue of this 
interior beauty that this great woman went forth to meet 
the terrible contest of her life and was successful in it. 
So must it be with every woman that would nurse. She 
may acquire many gifts and graces and accomplishments. 
Her technique may be all that is desirable, her methods 
excellent. These will adorn her; but if she have not that 
added beauty of a strong soul, she will not succeed in 
the great task she has set herself in life. 



22 


The Catholic Nurse 


The word “character” here needs some explanation. 
By character, we mean that force or power within us 
which marks off the individuality of each of us. It varies 
infinitely. We speak of good character, bad character, 
weak character, and strong character. All the time we 
mean to indicate the presence or absence of certain quali¬ 
ties which go to distinguish the person to whom we refer. 
Thus, it is in the case we are considering. A girl of weak 
character is one who habitually acts on impulse, who is 
inconstant in her conduct, and over whose thoughts and 
words and deeds there is little self-control. On exami¬ 
nation, we should find her lacking in any hidden springs 
of motive to guide her in the varying circumstances of 
life. To such a person an ideal would not appeal. She 
would be incapable of grasping it, much less of yielding 
to its dominating influence; while amid the persons and 
circumstances of her surroundings, she would show her¬ 
self but a mere passive instrument, a leaf swayed by each 
varying breeze. 

A girl of character, on the other hand, presents a 
totally different picture. Her life has a set unity of its 
own. It strikes the observer at once. She is not rigid, 
but possesses an elasticity which is very distinctive. Like 
highly wrought steel, she can bend to the inevitable or 
the needful, but quickly regain herself. She is not ruled 
by impulses which come her way, but dominates them to 
her own purpose, and to the end she proposes to herself 
in life. She is mistress of herself, fearless, calm, and de¬ 
liberate. She does not regard consequences, is clear in 
her policy, set in her purpose, restrained in speech, slow, 
perhaps, to begin, but persistent to finish whatever she 
attempts, courageous in difficulties, kind to others, tol- 



The Years of Training 23 

erant of differences, and to everyone as just as she is 
considerate. In a word, she is ruled in her life, not by 
the passing impulses of a fleeting moment, but by those 
ideals which are to her as guiding stars along her path in 
life. 





Chapter II 


THE YEARS OF TRAINING (Continued) 


“We may give you an institution to learn in, but it is you who 
must furnish the ‘heroic’ feeling of doing your duty, doing your 
best, without which no institution is safe, without urhich train¬ 
ing schools are meat without salt.”—Florence Nightingale. 


A MONG the guiding principles of conduct which 
direct us all in life, there are some which must 
dominate the nurse’s life. The true nurse must 
have not only strength of character, but this must show 
itself along well-defined lines. It will be helpful, there¬ 
fore, to mention here a few of those traits of character 
which need to be cultivated by one who is training herself 
for this profession of nursing. 

In the first place, a nurse must be trustworthy to the 
last degree. Her position is essentially one of trust. Life 
and death are constantly placed in her hands. Tempta¬ 
tions of many kinds will cross her path. Secrets will be 
made known to her and confidences given by those to 
whose health she is ministering, and upon her evidence 
much may at times depend. Again, the nurse is the doc¬ 
tor’s chief assistance. Upon the trustworthiness of her 
reports and the fidelity of her answers, he depends greatly 
for the success of his operation or treatment, while the 
hospital relies upon the fidelity of the nurse for the per¬ 
fection of its work, and for its good name before the 
world. Hence, it is so essential to every one aspiring to 
this great calling to train herself to be in all things exactly 
truthful and truthfully exact. Trustworthiness, there¬ 
fore, is one of those ideals or principles which character¬ 
ise the well-trained nurse. 


The Years of Training 


25 


Another trait demanding attention is thoroughness or 
reliability. If nursing demands anything of its fol¬ 
lowers it is that they be thorough and earnest in all they 
do. Nothing is so foreign to this very exacting calling as 
to be shallow, or superficial, or slovenly in one’s thoughts, 
or habits, or work. Further, it is not sufficient to rouse 
oneself when face to face with threatening death at a 
patient’s bedside. If a nurse would show herself as she 
ought in these awful moments, she must have acquired 
the spirit of true devotedness in all her work. It must 
be habitual with her. She must exercise herself in the 
minute details of daily life. This devotedness must show 
itself in cheerful loyalty to the spirit and letter of the 
hospital rules, in the habit of exact punctuality, in the 
prosecution of her studies, in the neatness of her person, 
in scrupulous cleanliness and in the order of her quarters. 
In all things, great and small, the earnest, thorough, 
methodical mind will show itself. The shallow-minded, 
on the other hand, will fail to see the truth of the great 
principle that it is the good and faithful servant, who has 
been faithful and true even in little things, to whom 
greater gifts are given and for whom the reward of ulti¬ 
mate success is waiting. 

Finally, the nurse who wishes to succeed in her calling 
must from the beginning set herself to acquire the habit 
of prompt, cheerful and unquestioning obedience. This 
is essential to her work. The habit of true obedience is, 
therefore, a necessary part of that formation of character 
with which we are dealing. It is certain that nothing can 
stand the nurse in such good stead, either during her hos¬ 
pital career or her after life, as this habit of obeying. 
If the trainee industriously exercises herself in the prac- 



26 


The Catholic Nurse 


ticc of this solid but very self-denying virtue, she may 
look upon the future with a steady gaze. No matter what 
it holds in store for her, she is safe. If she has learned 
to obey, she has secured for herself a source of strength 
against whatever difficult hours or straitened circum¬ 
stances may come her way in the course of her career. 
She has also secured a passport to the highest excellence 
in her work. 

Obedience is as necessary to the nurse as to the soldier 
in the field. To both is essential at certain moments that 
blind, passive yielding of the will to others. An intelli¬ 
gent interest in the work in all its parts, and a wholesome 
curiosity to know the reasons that govern the manage¬ 
ment of a hospital, or dictate the treatment of a patient 
are certainly useful and desirable. Yet the nurse’s obedi¬ 
ence must not depend on these. She must obey perfectly 
whether she sees the reasons or is ignorant of them. It 
is decidedly good to substitute intelligent obedience for 
passive or blind obedience. It makes obedience easier and 
at times secures better work. But it is not necessary. 
It is frequently quite impossible. The girl who will obey 
only when she understands the why and the wherefore 
of the order is not fitted for the nurse’s calling. She were 
well advised to seek some other occupation less fraught 
with danger to herself and others. 

These are some of those ideals or principles of con¬ 
duct which should characterise the efficient nurse. Though 
the subject is not exhausted, yet sufficient has been said 
to help any girl, who has a true calling to be a nurse, 
towards success in this noble profession. 

It is well here to emphasize strongly the fact that this 
strength of character is something that may be acquired. 



The Years of Training 


27 


To have a strong character, or to strengthen the character 
we have, is a simple matter of personal endeavour. It is 
just like training one’s muscles to run or swim or play, 
or like acquiring skill in manipulating one’s fingers. In 
none of these will mere wishing suffice. Earnest en¬ 
deavour always does. So it is with character. Pious de¬ 
sire is not enough. It is useless. But to try hard means 
ultimate success. Frequent effort, many failures and 
steady perseverance make the artist, the musician or the 
skilled operating room nurse. So it is with character. 
To try often, to fail many times, to persevere always 
means in the end success. 

But strength is not the only quality that a nurse’s 
character requires. In fact, to over-emphasise this quality 
would be fraught with great evil. There must be propor¬ 
tion and harmony in the perfect character, as in the per¬ 
fect body. Hence, to strength of character must be united 
a tenderness and sweetness of disposition as beautiful as 
it is distinctly womanly. This quality, which is none 
other than the virtue of charity, is the most exquisite of 
the soul’s gifts. In that calling whose raison d’ etre is to 
help our fellow man in his hour of greatest need, it is the 
one which is most frequently brought into play. There 
is no need, therefore, to insist upon its importance to the 
nurse. 

Yet this sweetness or tenderness of disposition must 
be rooted in strength of character. The reason is clear. 
A lovable nature which is at the same time weak and 
vacillating, is unfitted to bear the burdens of others or to 
aid them in their needs without exposing itself to very 
great danger. Such natures quickly find themselves over¬ 
come by the difficulties which they will surely meet with in 




28 


The Catholic Nurse 


a nurse’s calling. Nursing is not the vocation for those 
who are weak and indeterminate. 

All the same, it would be hard to exaggerate the need 
there is for a deep, abiding, all-enduring charity on the 
part of the nurse. The nature that is marked with gen¬ 
tleness and tenderness is one that readily finds its true 
place in the nursing profession. The cold, unsympathetic 
woman, how strong soever her character, is not likely to 
be successful in a calling where the highest aim is to serve 
the sick. 

The probationer must from the start impress upon her 
mind the necessity of cultivating in a high degree those 
womanly, nay, motherly qualities which so adorn the 
truly efficient nurse, and render her a source of comfort 
and strength to every patient entrusted to her care. To 
succeed in this, she must first acquire the spirit of sac¬ 
rifice. This is the first great lesson of charity. Wfro 
learns it, learns all. It is the lesson so frequently on the 
lips of Christ. “Seek your life,” He said, “and you will 
lose it”; that is, if we just seek ourselves and our own 
ease and comfort we shall fail in charity. Too frequently 
are these lessons of Christ restricted in their application. 
It is sometimes said that they are meant for those who, 
in religion, have renounced the world. The fact is, of 
course, that the Master’s words were spoken for all. But 
to few do they appeal so significantly as to the nurse. In 
the wards, by the sick-bed, among her companions, the 
nurse will find abundant opportunities of applying hourly 
and daily the words of Christ and of practising the re¬ 
nunciation of herself. 

We can put this idea in another way. Selfishness is 
one of the greatest enemies in the life of a nurse. There 




The Years of Training 


29 


is nothing more foreign to ithe spirit of her vocation. It is 
a vice, and an ugly one, in whomsoever it is found, worst 
of all in those whose profession stands for devotion to 
one’s neighbour in his hours of sickness and suffering. 
Selfishness, moreover, is an insidious evil. Constant vig¬ 
ilance is needed to guard against it. It is also an evil 
which grows quickly, and, if left unchecked, it soon de¬ 
velops that hard, narrow-minded, petty woman who, of all 
others, is least fitted to be a nurse. “There is urgent 
need,” says one, writing on the qualities of a perfect 
nurse, “for all the unselfishness, the self-sacrifice, the 
cheerful endurance and active sympathy, which makes the 
possessors rich in what they have to give, and their serv¬ 
ices of inestimable value to those upon whom they arc 
bestowed.” 

The girl, therefore, who will follow this profession, 
whose aim is to serve the brethren when they do most 
need service, must be distinguished for her charity. The 
true nurse should be not only strong and valiant, but also 
tender and loving. She must ever be forgetful of self 
to be mindful of others, and deny herself that others 
may have. This is the true meaning of her life and the 
spirit that must animate her work. For charity gives to 
nursing a fulness and richness which science, however 
perfect, or skill, however exquisite, can never give. But 
the nurse must see to it that her charity is real and gen¬ 
uine; that it is such charity as St. Paul would recognise, 
who wrote: “Charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth 
not, is not ambitious, seeketh not her own and thinketh 
no evil.” 



Chapter III 


THE HOSPITAL 

“Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'’ 

Ruth 1-16. 

T HE day the probationer joins her hospital is the be¬ 
ginning of a new life for her. This does not only 
mean that she has put her foot on the lowest rung 
of the ladder and has begun its ascent. Neither does it 
only mean that she has new duties to perform, a pre¬ 
scribed dress to wear, or a set order of the day to follow. 
Doubtless it means all these; but it implies much more. 
This is more fully expressed by saying that in joining the 
hospital the probationer becomes one of a family. She 
now no longer stands by herself; she is not alone; her 
interests intertwine with those of others; the ideals of 
life, the objects to be attained, the means to be employed 
are common to all. In the community of life and work 
around her she shares equally with others. 

Ruth of old, on leaving her home and country to fol¬ 
low Naomi, cried out: “Thy people shall be my people, 
and thy God my God.” This cry expressed the whole- 
hearted giving of herself to the love and service of 
her kinswoman. The young girl, who leaves her home to 
follow the nurse’s calling, may very fittingly make Ruth’s 
words her own. For if she have the true spirit of this 
calling, she will indeed find God in a new and wonderful 
way in the service of the sick. The hospital in opening 
its doors, bids her welcome to a new home. By those 
gathered there to carry on one of the noblest works given 
to woman’s hands to perform, she is received and num¬ 
bered as one of the family. Therefore, as she enters the 


The Hospital 


3 i 


hospital doors and realises all this means, she will find an 
echo in her heart of those beautiful words, “Your God 
shall be my God, and your people shall be my people.” 

But her reception means also that the probationer in¬ 
curs certain obligations towards the hospital. When a 
girl ultimately receives her certificate and joins the ranks 
of the trained nurses of her country, she undoubtedly in¬ 
curs a new responsibility towards the nursing profession. 
This is true of every profession. Upon each member ad¬ 
mitted to its ranks, falls the responsibility of keeping and 
guarding its good name. When the probationer, there¬ 
fore, is received into the hospital, she necessarily under¬ 
takes serious obligations towards the institution which 
she has chosen and through which she is to gain entrance 
to her profession. Perhaps no word describes so well and 
so fully these obligations as the word loyalty. The nurse, 
when entering her name on the books of a hospital under¬ 
takes to be loyal to that hospital. That is, she undertakes 
to do her best for her hospital, to work for her hospital, 
to put her hospital first in all things, and in her words 
and actions to guard jealously the good name and honour 
of her hospital. 

Florence Nightingale puts the same idea in different 
words. In the early days of the trained nurse she wrote 
to her nurses: “Esprit de corps should be encouraged. 
It is a great help to think ‘If I do this I shall be a dis¬ 
grace to my training school.’ ‘If I do that I shall do 
honour to it.’ Let nurses be proud of their Alma Mater. 
Let them think their own training school and their own 
doctors the first in the world.” 

It must be remembered that if the probationer obliges 
herself to certain things when she joins a hospital, the 



32 


The Catholic Nurse 


hospital on its side, also incurs responsibilities towards 
the nurses. It engages to furnish the means of training, 
to provide for their needs, and it may allow some re¬ 
muneration for work during the years of training. It 
will educate in the art of nursing and in doing so enable 
them to develop to the fullest extent the powers and fac¬ 
ulties with which each of them is endowed. But while 
doing this the hospital entrusts to its nurses its fair name 
and reputation. This is why the word loyalty so fully ex¬ 
presses a nurse’s duty towards the hospital. 

Every hospital is a public institution. In a sense it 
belongs to the public. At least they are its critics and its 
judges. It is easy to see then how the good reputation 
of the hospital is almost entirely in the hands of its 
nursing staff. It were foolish to say that this responsi¬ 
bility rests upon the management or upon the medical 
staff. These without doubt have their share. But the 
fact does not relieve the nurses of their own respon¬ 
sibility. Failure on their part means injury to the hos¬ 
pital, no matter how perfect its management or how 
efficient its medical staff. As the nursing staff has irm 
mense powers for good—so also has it the capacity of 
doing harm that may be irreparable. Again, it must be 
remembered that each individual shares in this responsi¬ 
bility. There is no one from the youngest probationer 
upwards, who does not share personally this common 
burden. As the good name of the hospital is promoted 
by every successful effort, so is it injured by deliberate 
failure on the part of anyone. If a nurse, for instance, 
fails to observe regulations or is remiss in attention to 
patients; if she is wanting in obedience to her superiors 
or in courtesy to her equals; if she idles at her work or 



The Hospital 


33 


neglects her studies, she undoubtedly injures her hospital 
and so fails in the loyalty she owes it. Again in what con¬ 
cerns the guarding of her own fair name and good char¬ 
acter, it is needless to point out how failure on the part 
of the nurse in such a matter would injure her hospital. 
Hitherto to guard her own name has been something 
sacred to her because of her very womanhood. Now she 
is guardian of it for her own sake, indeed, but also for the 
sake of her hospital, which could be so severely wounded 
through her. 

A real enemy to true loyalty is the spirit of criticism 
or fault-finding. In hospital life, where the results are 
obtained by the united effort of many, where duties are 
new and difficult, and where characters differ so widely, 
it is quite evident that the young nurse will not escape 
temptation to this fault. It is written: “The poor ye have 
always with you.” We know how true this is. But is it 
not equally true that we have also with us those poor 
souls whose utter poverty is revealed to us by their con¬ 
stant grumbling? Deficient in all that makes for richness 
and greatness of soul, they have nothing to fall back 
upon to sustain them when face to face with the imper¬ 
fections incidental to all human persons and affairs. 
Hence those constant fault-findings and carping criticisms 
of people, of arrangements, of food and lodging, of every¬ 
thing. Deplorable as this failing is in any girl, it is par¬ 
ticularly so in the case of one whose calling demands so 
much from its followers. The nurse who wishes to suc¬ 
ceed in her calling must, therefore, from the very outset 
of her career, set her face against this wretched and 
harmful spirit. Nothing is so contrary to perfect loyalty. 
It hurts everyone. It hurts the person criticising, by ex- 



34 


The Catholic Nurse 


posing the emptiness of her soul; it wounds the person 
criticised; and it destroys, so far as it is able, the har¬ 
mony and love that should ever animate all engaged in 
the noble work of hospital nursing. One is reminded in 
this connection of the old tale of the whaling boat in 
the northern seas. The cold was so intense that when 
the sailors tried to speak, the words were frozen hard as 
they came from their lips and could be heard falling on 
the deck. So it is with those cold-hearted, carping critics. 
Their words fall from their lips like the hard-frozen 
words of the legend. They are neither beautiful, nor 
helpful, nor useful—just plain, ugly things, that hurt 
everyone they touch or fall upon. 

But it is in her dealings with her companions that the 
young and inexperienced girl may find herself most ex¬ 
ercised in this matter of criticism. In other departments 
of life her very inexperience may safe-guard the young 
nurse, and cause her at least to suspend judgment. But 
it is not so in regard to her companions. Inexperience is 
well known to be no guarantee against the rash judgment 
and hasty criticism. How often and how foolishly do 
the inexperienced rush in where those more widely ex¬ 
perienced are fearful and hesitating! 

In regard to her companions then, it will be well for 
the trainee to remember that they are human as she is, 
that they have their imperfections as she has, and that all 
are striving together to attain the same great object— 
perfection in the service of the sick. From this should 
really spring a closer bond of union; while the kindred 
interests of the life common to all may become the source 
of friendships both intimate and abiding. 

The girl who is sincere in her calling will, therefore, 



The Hospital 


35 


ever seek to cultivate that kindly consideration towards 
her fellow workers which enables her to look beyond her 
own particular needs. She will strive for that large¬ 
mindedness which will not resent the inconsiderateness of 
others towards herself. She will be ever ready to bear 
the burdens of the weaker ones, and to drive out that 
spirit which breeds unwillingness to aid except where 
personal advantage can be gained. She will fly that nar¬ 
row, selfish principle that shirks the kindly act because 
“it is no business of mine.” The simplest of such deeds, 
be it the lending of one’s notes, the explaining of a tech¬ 
nical point, or the sharing of a distasteful duty, if done 
with gracious, unaffected willingness is, to the discerning, 
always its own reward. Once a girl showed such a spirit 
in the presence of Christ. In the little house at Bethania, 
Mary had apparently been singled out for special favour. 
A place was allowed to her at her Master’s feet, while to 
Martha fell the hard work and drudgery. Now Martha 
was jealous of the good fortune of her sister and com¬ 
plained that the Master had no care of her. Are we not 
all of us like Martha at times? When success attends the 
efforts of others, or good fortune falls to their share, does 
not the same jealous spirit rise in our hearts? Do we 
not stand and complain that no care is had of us? The 
large-hearted and generous girl will not act so. She will 
be quick to see the good parts in others and to rejoice in 
the perfection they have acquired or in the success they 
have achieved. 

But it is not enough to wait until perfection has been 
reached to see all the goodness in one’s neighbour. It is 
the part of the truly generous to perceive this even in the 
early days of struggling and while the dross of many 



36 


The Catholic Nurse 


imperfections still hides much of the beauty that is to be. 
The fruit before it reached the maturity which makes it 
comely to look at and sweet to taste, has first to pass 
through the blossoming stage and then becomes an ill- 
shapen, bitter thing. So it is with many while acquiring 
those qualities which will later enrich and sweeten their 
own lives, and the lives of others. To achieve the full 
ripeness of perfection in any walk of life is not the mat¬ 
ter of one day or of a single effort. We all have our 
spring time. It is the period of promise; not of achieve¬ 
ment. It is accompanied frequently with blasts that chill 
and even frosts that bite. But it is always a period of 
hope and enthusiasm. Hence the young nurse, inexperi¬ 
enced in this as in many other things, must guard herself 
from harsh and critical judgments on those who like her¬ 
self are still struggling along the uphill road, but have 
not yet reached the summit. 

The young nurse must also beware of killing that en¬ 
thusiasm which is the driving power of life by denying 
a kind encouragement where it is most needed or the 
granting of the stinted and lukewarm praise which is 
all a cold or jealous heart can ever find to give. One day 
a woman stole into the chamber where Christ was at din¬ 
ner. In the enthusiasm of her love, she broke an alabas¬ 
ter box, and anointed His feet with a rich ointment. Her 
deed filled the room with its fragrant odours, and the 
guests with admiration at the loving spirit that prompted 
an action so lavishly generous. But there was one present 
whose heart was cold and cynical. “Foolish waste,” said 
he; “this ointment could have been sold for three hun¬ 
dred pence.” So we find those today who are ever ready 
to rob others of their enthusiasm and to quench by a cold 



The Hospital 


37 


manner, a harsh judgment, or a cynical word the fires of 
love which they see in the brave hearts around them, but 
find not in their own. Unless the nurse is free from this 
spirit, she cannot hope to serve well in the high calling 
of the service of the sick. She must not be blind to the 
good in others nor niggardly in her praise, nor murmur 
when praise goes to others, even if it pass her by in doing 
so. 

But the girl who is gifted with the qualities that make 
the perfect nurse and who sees in her work not merely 
an honourable occupation, but the call of God himself, is 
never satisfied with being merely loyal. In her case the 
spirit of loyalty quickly passes into something higher and 
more noble. She begins, it is true, with admiration of her 
calling. With this admiration, however, is mingled a cer¬ 
tain misgiving. She may even fear much in the life be¬ 
fore her. But this soon changes. As the greatness of 
the nurse’s calling grows upon her, as its nobility and 
grandeur more and more fill her mind, nursing becomes 
for her like a cleansing fire penetrating her inmost life 
and consuming any imperfect thing that could hinder her 
from responding more perfectly to all its demands. 

In the same way her attitude towards her hospital will 
change. She quickly indeed realises how needful is this 
loyalty. But she does not rest satisfied with the giving 
of loyal service. As the love for her calling grows within 
her, a deep and abiding love for her hospital will also fill 
her breast. It is now her home. She finds in it a school 
of ideals and of noble endeavour. It is the source of 
truest inspiration for her and offers the means of fulfill¬ 
ing most perfectly the highest aspirations of her nature. 
In her hospital she will learn the spirit of self-forgetful- 




38 


The Catholic Nurse 


ness, of gentleness, and of broadminded charity. She will 
learn there not only the science and technique of her 
work, but everything that goes to make the perfect woman 
and the perfect nurse. Through the years of training, 
as through life, the hospital will be to her not only the 
place where her dearest memories are enshrined, but the 
source of her best inspirations and a tower of strength 
in all her difficulties. 



Chapter IV 
IN THE WARDS 


“Banish foreboding and anxious forecast, and fill to-day with 
faithful work, with kindness and courage and hope.” 

— M. B. Babcock. 


N URSING is an art. It has theories and principles 
like every other art. A knowledge of these is ac¬ 
quired through the study of books and by means 
of lectures delivered to the nurse during her period of 
training. Yet it is the practical application of these theo¬ 
ries and principles which is of most importance. Hence, 
it is true to say that the art of nursing is really acquired 
in the wards and by the bedside of the sick. This fact 
will be duly impressed upon the nurse during her course 
of training. Here we are concerned with it entirely from 
the point of view we had in venturing these remarks, viz., 
to help a Catholic girl to accomplish her years of training 
in the best way; to enable her to draw from the experi¬ 
ences of these years the true lessons they can give; and, 
finally, to aid her in reaching during this important 
period, the fullest development of herself. Bearing this 
in mind we now turn to the life and work before her in 
the hospital wards* 

The most important feature of this work is that in it 
the trainee comes into contact with suffering human be¬ 
ings. They are her patients. She meets them quite early 
in her career. They will continue to be the objects of all 
her care and thought, of her labours and anxieties, of 
her hopes and perhaps of her fears as long as she remains 
a nurse. Sick and suffering fellow beings are the very 
raison d’ etre of her calling. 


40 


The Catholic Nurse 


Now it is a simple matter of fact that patients can be 
regarded in two different ways. They may be looked 
upon as “cases,” or as suffering human beings. Happy 
the girl who never fails to regard her patients as suffering 
men or women, who need her help just because they suf¬ 
fer! She will be a successful nurse. 

True sympathy, a quality so essential to the efficient 
nurse, demands much more than the knowledge of the 
mere symptoms of disease. Every case has in the lan¬ 
guage of the hospital, “its history.” This is a technical 
term. It tells the story of the origin and causes of the 
disease and of all that may have a bearing upon the 
doctor’s diagnosis. But there is another history to every 
case. It is the story of a human life; a story whose chap¬ 
ters tell of joy and sorrow, of pathos and interest, of sor¬ 
didness, perhaps, but also of brave struggle and noble 
endurance. With this history the nurse has also to con¬ 
cern herself. ' " 

The sympathetic nurse studies her patients. She does 
so because she realises that without a certain insight into 
their lives and characters, she is unable to give her pa¬ 
tients all the help they need and look for from the nurse. 
Incidentally, she will find that the effort to know and to 
understand the lives of others, especially of such as are 
to be met with in hospital practice, enlarges her mind and 
widens her sympathies. As a matter of fact, human na¬ 
ture can be learned in the wards in a way that is rare else¬ 
where. The patient’s bedside is a real school to the un¬ 
derstanding nurse. There she can learn lessons that can 
be learned in scarcely any other sphere in life. If to this 
school the nurse comes with reverence and sincerity, she 
will learn amazing lessons of self-denial and of heroic en- 



In the Wards 


41 


durance in suffering. She will see pain of mind and 
body borne with a constancy and resignation that will 
astonish her; and day by day in her ward, she will find ex¬ 
amples of all that is most noble and most sublime in our 
frail human nature. If then the nurse’s eyes are open 
and her ears attuned to hear the silent voice of the suf¬ 
fering poor, she will quickly gain a deeper reverence for 
human nature, a wider appreciation of its great and noble 
capabilities, while a deeper sympathy with its suffering 
members will fill her heart. She will also gain a fuller 
knowledge of herself, realise more deeply her powers of 
body and mind on the one hand, and her failures and 
weakness on the other. She will also gather from her 
lessons in this great school how noble and sublime is the 
calling in life which she has chosen for herself. She will 
understand the full meaning of nursing the sick, and learn 
the nobility and grandeur of the humblest service she can 
render to the least among her patients. Finally, this 
knowledge will give her a new enthusiasm in her work, 
and a new strength to carry out its duties ever more 
perfectly. This is what “going to school” by the sick bed¬ 
side in a hospital ward really means. 

The nurse has to remember, however, that here no 
preconceived notions will be of any use to her. What is 
required is knowledge at first hand, gleaned by herself 
from those to whose health she is ministering. Patients 
are living beings—intensely human. By reason of their 
sickness, they are the most helpless of creatures and 
usually the most sensitive. Neither the scientific interest 
of the case, nor the ugliness of the exterior, nor the fact 
that it is just one among so many others in the ward, 
can hide this from the eyes of the nurse who has trained 



42 


The Catholic Nurse 


herself to see below the surface. To her in each case 
under her charge is confided a life full of its own throb¬ 
bing interests, desires, regrets, and longings. The perfect 
nurse is sensitive to all this. Her gaze passes beyond and 
behind the angry wound or the dangerous symptoms to 
the quivering soul beneath. She sees a soul that is per¬ 
haps in sorrow; a soul that is lonely or is anxious, or in 
darkness, or afraid. She understands; knowledge has 
come to her and with knowledge a new power. It is that 
power which a sympathetic insight into the life and feel¬ 
ings of a suffering fellow being always gives. “Power 
hath gone out from Me,” said Christ once as He exer¬ 
cised His healing office. So does power go forth from 
her who has learned well her lesson at her patient’s bed¬ 
side. It is a power frequently greater than medical sci¬ 
ence and without the aid of which the best efforts of the 
doctor may fail. This power is given to every under¬ 
standing and sympathetic heart. In every woman it Is a 
choice gift; in a nurse, it is among the greatest and best 
of her qualities. But when the nurse by the strength of 
her faith can pierce the exterior, so often repulsive, and 
see the bright image of God beneath; when she can see 
Christ present, though disguised in poverty and sickness 
and suffering, and hear Him whisper, “What you do to 
one of these, you do unto Me,” it is then that she begins 
to feel descending upon her the genuine spirit of her 
great calling; and each ministering duty done for her 
patients fills her with the glad consciousness that to her 
also may be uttered those gracious words spoken of an¬ 
other woman by Christ, “She hath wrought a good work 
on Me.” The nurse who trains herself to take this higher 
and holier view of her work, will find in it a strength and 



In the Wards 


43 


consolation to which nothing can compare and which 
nothing else can supply. 

On the other hand, how distressing is the thought of 
the additional and unnecessary suffering which is the lot 
of those patients placed in the hands of the case-hard¬ 
ened, thoughtless and selfish nurse. It is needless here to 
emphasise this. Enough has been said to show how abso¬ 
lutely unworthy such a character is of the nurse’s calling. 
But it is well to remember that constant attendance on 
the sick is fraught with the danger of making one hard 
and indifferent to suffering. It is also the reason why 
patients may sometimes be regarded by the nurse as mere 
cases which she has to attend for so many hours. Nursing 
is not at fault here. It is the nurse who is to blame. It 
is, therefore, the duty of every nurse to guard against 
this harmful but most unnecessary consequence of her 
work in the wards. She must remember that every pa¬ 
tient is in the hospital for that special assistance which 
she alone can give. If that help is the cold, heartless help 
of mere technical skill, and if it is not vivified by the 
warmth of Christian charity and womanly sympathy, 
then the nurse has failed not only her patient, but herself 
and her hospital. 

It will be seen, therefore, that in the nurse’s calling 
there can be no success without much and persistent 
effort. In this very arduous profession there are things 
to be done and seen which will try the endurance of hu¬ 
man nature to the utmost. The long and irregular hours, 
the wear and tear of the daily round of exacting duties, 
the difficulty of the studies, the character of others, the 
work, so anxious and responsible, the waywardness of 



44 The Catholic Nurse 

patients, these are but some of those things that will try 
the stuff of which the girl, who aspires to be a nurse, is 
made. 

But perseverance, faith and courage bring success. It 
is encouraging to remember also that in the trying mo¬ 
ments of daily life, when work is hardest, and patients 
most peevish, and most irresponsive to every best en¬ 
deavour, the richest blessings of the nurse’s profession 
are to be found. It is then also that the most rapid 
strides to perfection in it can be made. But this takes 
time. That nurse with the strong faith and kindly char¬ 
acter, who is active, patient and sympathetic, who is long- 
suffering and self-forgetful, who is firm in the discharge 
of her duties, but knows how and when to yield, who is 
tactful and able to say the right word in the right place, 
and has the gift of showing a happy, personal interest 
in others, who has a courteous respect for all, who is ten¬ 
der in handling the sick, and alert to foresee their needs, 
and who in the midst of absorbing work and constant 
calls upon her time is calm and cheerful and self-pos¬ 
sessed, such a nurse is not easily found, nor is her train¬ 
ing the work of a single day. Yet the girl who is earnestly 
striving to be worthy of herself and of her profession, 
allows no day to go by without learning the great lessons 
it teaches, and so advancing a step along the road to suc¬ 
cess. She is conscious that when she has succeeded, she 
will have secured great peace and happiness for herself 
and be able to give of her best to everyone entrusted to 
her care. 




Chapter V 

FIDELITY TO RELIGIOUS DUTIES, 

“To God the things that are God’s.”—Luke 20-25. 

W HEN a nurse has passed her final test and has 
obtained her certificate she is supposed to be 
equipped for every duty a nurse may be called 
upon to undertake. This may be true, so far as profes¬ 
sional knowledge and skill are concerned. It must, how¬ 
ever, be remembered that the certificate is no guarantee 
of a nurse’s real fitness for the profession. A nurse may 
graduate with success and yet be a failure. She may have 
the right to wear the uniform, yet prove unworthy of it. 
Many qualities go to the making of the perfect nurse, 
about which the examiners do not concern themselves. 
Some of these qualities have been pointed out already. 
It has also been shown that their acquisition constitutes 
a part of the nurse’s training in which she herself must 
play a leading part. But there is one qualification need¬ 
ful beyond all others in every Catholic girl who would be 
a nurse. It is a good, solid, religious character. All who 
have experience of the nurse’s life agree upon this. They 
rightly regard religion as the sheet anchor of the Cath¬ 
olic nurse’s life. The reasons for this are not far to 
seek. 

In the first place, our Catholic nurses must take their 
places worthily as Catholics, both in their profession and 
in the world. This is expected of them. Some nurses 
come from Catholic training schools. These have in 
their keeping not only their own good name, but also that 
of their Catholic school. Others not trained in such 
schools are, nevertheless, Catholic nurses. From what- 


46 


The Catholic Nurse 


ever school they come, they all enter upon their careers 
professing the Catholic faith. They have before them 
^ its ideals, are enriched by its blessings, aided by its graces, 
and bound in conscience by its obligations. It must be 
the aim, therefore, of every Catholic nurse to live up to 
the standard demanded by her faith. The nurse who 
allows herself to fall deliberately below this standard fails 
in what she owes to God and to herself. She also proves 
herself unworthy of the great profession she has chosen. 
Furthermore, she becomes a source of scandal to those of 
the faith, as well as to those who, though not of it, know 
quite well what its duties and obligations are. The Cath¬ 
olic nurse can never pass for one to whom religion counts 
for nothing or to whom its teachings and practices are of 
no concern. On the contrary, if she is to be worthy of 
the name of Catholic, she must realize all that her religion 
means to her. She must never shirk its duties, nor show 
herself wanting in that fidelity which her religion de¬ 
mands of her. She must not let human respect prevent 
her from fulfilling its obligations, nor allow the opinions 
of others to weigh against the dictates of her own con¬ 
science or the teachings of her religion. She must stand 
fearlessly and faithfully before the world as a sincere 
and earnest Catholic nurse. 

In the second place, the Catholic nurse has to live and 
to work in a world in which her faith may be exposed to 
considerable danger. This affords another reason why 
the religion of the nurse must have a solidity and a depth 
beyond the ordinary. As a nurse, she has to meet with 
all classes of men and women. They will have different 
religious opinions. Many will have none at all, or will 
despise and condemn all religious beliefs. The nurse 



Fidelity to Religious Duties 


47 


meets these people not in the casual passing to-and-fro 
of railway travel or hotel life, but in the intimacy and 
freedom of family life while in attendance upon the sick. 

The nurse will, therefore, hear religion discussed. It 
is a subject in which men are greatly interested and of 
which they frequently speak. Some praise it; some at 
tack it; some defend it; all talk of it. The nurse is un¬ 
likely to escape this. Religion will be discussed in her 
presence and she, most probably, will be brought into the 
discussion. She will be questioned upon Catholic teach¬ 
ing and practice. Her religion may be attacked, and she 
will be challenged to defend it, and besides the spoken 
word, so often uttered against our Holy Religion, there 
is the public press. In its pages, open hostility and mis¬ 
representation are constantly displayed. Then there are 
vast numbers of books, flung broadcast upon the market. 
These take up the anti-Catholic chorus and carry it ef¬ 
fectively to every corner of the earth. 

The Catholic nurse has to face all this. She has to 
encounter this hostility to her religion and to meet the 
criticism of it. For much of her life she has to live and 
work in an atmosphere poisoned against her faith by 
prejudice, by falsehood or by malicious design. It is nec¬ 
essary, therefore, for her to be prepared for these con¬ 
ditions. It is required of her that she be able to endure 
them without unnecessary risk to her faith. Her position, 
therefore, demands more from the Catholic nurse than 
the simple practice of her religious duties. She must pos¬ 
sess, in addition, a practical but thorough knowledge of 
her faith. This should be something more than the ele¬ 
mentary knowledge which she obtained at school. It 
should be equal to the demands to be made upon her in 



48 


The Catholic Nurse 


that world she must live in as a nurse. It should be such 
that she will find in it a protection against errors and 
fallacies and an answer to the ordinary attacks directed 
against the Catholic religion. It should also enable her 
to give, when necessary, a reason for that faith which is 
her most precious possession. 

Another thought here presents itself. There is a dan¬ 
ger in the very nature of her work to which every nurse 
is exposed. It is the bad effect upon mind and heart 
which the constant nursing of the sick may produce. It 
is quite possible for a nurse’s work to injure her char¬ 
acter. The constant association with the sordid side of 
life may spoil the more spiritual outlook which every 
Catholic girl should possess. To live in the midst of suf¬ 
fering, to be in constant attendance upon men in their 
worst and weakest moments, to meet death frequently 
may quite easily dull the edge of one’s finer perceptions 
and feelings. The spirit of faith may be weakened; the 
insight into the supernatural may be dimmed, and the 
bonds of charity loosened. 

This is the danger to be feared in nursing. Its effect 
upon the nurse is of the worst kind. In tone of thought 
it makes her material and worldly; in her feelings, cold, 
harsh, and unkind. In her outlook on life she becomes 
cynical and pessimistic; towards suffering she becomes 
heartless, callous, and even cruel. But it is not the pro¬ 
fession which is here at fault. It is not responsible for 
an evil so destructive of all that is noblest in nursing, and 
most womanly in the nurse. It is not nursing, but the 
nurse herself who is to blame if she falls a victim to this 
evil. The fault is hers if she loses sight of the higher 
values of her life and work. She is to blame if she fails 



Fidelity to Religious Duties 


49 


to realise the deeper meaning of sickness and of death, 
or lets herself become case-hardened and indifferent to 
suffering and sorrow. It is, therefore, to her own efforts 
the nurse must look if she is to escape harm in the midst 
of her work. 

To this evil, so hurtful to a nurse, there is but one 
antidote. It is a sincere religious spirit. This means a 
faith nurtured and made strong by the earnest practice of 
religious duties, and a charity that is enkindled and 
strengthened in the presence of suffering humanity. This 
spirit gives the nurse a deep sense of the supernatural. 
It endows her with a vision which can pierce the sordid 
aspect of disease and death. Armed with this spirit, the 
nurse will see in her work, not merely cases needing med¬ 
ical care, but also suffering humanity crying for that ten¬ 
derness which only the woman of strong faith and Christ- 
like charity can give. If the Catholic nurse has this spirit 
of faith and love and is careful to guard it, she has noth¬ 
ing to fear. The environment of disease and suffering 
and death may injure others; they will not harm her. 
She will pass unscathed through the ordeal of a nurse’s 
life and come forth from it more richly endowed with all 
the characteristics of the perfect woman. 

But there is another side to this question. It is one 
which further emphasises the need for solid religion in 
the Catholic nurse. As in the case of the doctor’s work, 
so in that of the nurse, there is the moral as well as the 
purely medical aspect of it. That is to say, in certain 
cases account must be taken, not only of what the medical 
diagnosis indicates or prescribes, but also of what God’s 
law permits or enjoins. In another chapter this question 
is treated at greater length. But the fact that her work 



50 


The Catholic Nurse 


so often raises serious moral questions, serves to show 
how needful it is for the Catholic nurse to be earnest in 
the practice of her religion. Only the firm conviction 
of the truth of what she holds and an inflexible will to 
carry out the dictates of conscience, can carry her safely 
through the difficult cases to be met with at times in the 
nursing career. 

Lastly, the nurse’s life is an irregular one. Its hours 
and duties cannot be defined with the precision possible in 
less arduous walks of life. The nurse has often to man¬ 
age for herself as best she can. The demands upon her 
time and energy are in some cases unlimited. They are 
always severe. The temptation, therefore, to relax in her 
religious exercises is quite comprehensible. This is ex¬ 
perienced by every nurse. The great danger is, that the 
enforced irregularity of hours and work may be made an 
excuse for a carelessness which soon degenerates into 
habitual laxity. Only those who are strong in faith and 
fervent in the practice of their religious duties can escape 
falling a victim to this temptation. 

It is clear, therefore, that the girl who is to hold her 
position worthily as a Catholic nurse, who is to cope suc¬ 
cessfully with the dangers to faith and morals which so 
often arise in the nursing career, and who is to overcome 
temptation due to the irregularity of the nurse’s life and 
work, has more than ordinary need of a deep-hearted and 
sincere devotion to her religion. In the highest and best 
sense of the word, the Catholic nurse must be religious. 
This does not mean that she must forsake the world and 
seek the cloister. But it does mean that, realising her 
religion as the most precious gift that life offers, she 
must love it and be proud of it. She must prize it above 




Fidelity to Religious Duties 


5i 


everything. She must shield it from all dangers and ex¬ 
pose it to no needless risks. She should hate heresy and 
guard herself against its spirit. Her mind should pos¬ 
sess in all things a Catholic tone. Not merely in external 
things, but in all her heart and soul she should be abso¬ 
lutely loyal to her faith and work; in her attitude towards 
all questions which arise, she should endeavour to adopt 
the Catholic point of view. She should, in a word, value 
those things that Catholics prize most dearly, as for in¬ 
stance, the principle of authority and obedience, the need 
and efficacy of prayer, reverence for religion and for its 
ministers, the overruling Providence of God, and the su¬ 
pernatural destiny for which we have been created. 

But her love and pride in her faith must be practical. 
This must be made manifest in her religious exercises, in 
the external conduct of her life, in her conversation and 
in her friendships. Hence, her religion must not be 
founded upon mere sentiment, nor depend upon routine 
and custom. Feelings are good and helpful, but they 
change and pass away. The discipline of everyday rou¬ 
tine is a necessary part of training. But it ends with this 
period of a nurse’s life. Feelings, therefore, and duties 
done out of mere routine, provide a very poor foundation 
for the religion which the nurse must possess. Her 
religion must be founded upon the deep conviction of a 
well-instructed mind strongly illuminated by faith. It 
must be founded upon the sincere love of God which 
places the things of God first and above all things. Only 
such a religion as this will stand the wear and tear of a 
nurse’s life. Such a religion alone will enable the nurse 
to discharge her full duty towards God. It is the nurse 



52 


The Catholic Nurse 


who does this, who alone can give her best to suffering 
humanity without paying a price which would make her¬ 
self bankrupt in soul. 



Chapter VI 

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL 

“The leprous distillment: whose effect 
Holds such an enmity with blood of man 

— Shakespeare. 

T HE drug habit is a well-known evil of modern life. 
L r nhappily, it is an evil which is not confined to one 
sex nor to any single class of society. It is an evil 
which seems to be increasing in the number of its victims 
and in its virulence. The danger arising from the use 
of drugs and from indulgence in alcohol is one that may 
beset the nurse at any stage of her career. It is well for 
her, therefore, to be warned in time and to be on her 
guard against it. This danger is insidious. It is like a 
thief: it enters into one’s life stealthily. It is often 
present in a deadly degree before the victim is aware of 
the danger, and it is often upon the hardest working nurse 
that it lays its unholy hands. 

The habit of taking drugs or drink has very small be¬ 
ginnings. These are looked upon as quite harmless; yet 
they end—end too frequently in the formation of a habit. 
This habit only too surely does its terrible work. It 
destroys its victim. There are different kinds of drugs. 
Some are known as narcotic drugs. In this category, 
several names are included—morphia, cocaine, chloral, 
antipyrine, and many others alike in their nature and in 
their effects. Besides narcotics, there are other drugs 
such as bromides, trional, etc. These drugs are com¬ 
monly used as sleeping draughts, and their use as such is 
a frequent experience of every nurse. Another drug 
which is very dangerous is alcohol. This is the most 


54 


The Catholic Nurse 


plausible and seductive agent known. The temptation to 
indulge in it is often very great. It is sought for the 
sense of well-being it produces and for the apparently 
stimulating effects it exerts upon the powers of mind and 
body. 

It would be beyond the necessary limits of these notes 
to treat in full detail the nature of all these drugs; a sum¬ 
mary of their effects upon the human system will suffice. 
This will serve to warn the nurse against the evil of in¬ 
dulging in them herself. It will also help her to exer¬ 
cise a restraining influence over others whom she may 
find tempted to use them. 

The use of drugs, even in small quantities, limits the 
range of thought, and weakens the power of judgment. 
Under their influence the brain is more or less paralysed. 
In spite of appearances to the contrary, mental fatigue 
is increased by drugs. The apparent increase of power 
has been proved by experiment to be delusive. It must 
also be remembered that the temporary activity so often 
experienced is followed by a reaction of the whole nerv¬ 
ous system. The wretchedness and depression which 
follow the use of these drugs are evidence of this. Drugs 
also produce a violent disturbance of our emotions. This 
effect is a matter of too common experience. We see it 
strikingly in many cases of drunkenness. Speaking gen¬ 
erally, the effects are these: The temper becomes irri¬ 
table and factious; hysterical outbursts, denoting more or 
less complete loss of control, are common; timidity and 
strange fears manifest themselves; work becomes impos¬ 
sible, unless one is “wound up” (this means renewed in¬ 
dulgence) ; nervous prostration, especially in women, is 
frequent and comes soon; and the power of self-control 




Drugs and Alcohol 


55 


is much impaired. These effects lead to a deadening of 
the conscience and to a total loss of the sense of respon¬ 
sibility. Many of the drugs indicated induce the craving 
for repetition. This lessens the power of self-control and 
ultimately destroys it. The drunkard is a typical and too 
well-known example of this. 

Drugs seem to dispel the sense of fatigue, but this is 
a deception. The point is worth noting. Much of the 
temptation to indulge comes from the feeling of relief 
which the drug actually gives. What really takes place is 
only a deadening of the sense of fatigue, that is to say, 
the drug acts as an agent which deadens the normal sen¬ 
sation. But the actual nerve strain and disturbance due 
to overwork, which we call fatigue, are still there. These 
are also cumulative in their effects, if rest and food are 
denied. Unfortunately, it often happens that recourse is 
had to the drug instead of taking the needed repose. The 
result is that the victim goes from bad to worse. A fre¬ 
quent result of even a moderate use of drugs is nervous 
debility. This effect becomes chronic very early in the 
case. It is more frequently noticeable in women than in 
men. Lastly, in all these drugs, it is the pleasant effects 
of deadened pain or fatigue which are most frequently 
sought. These effects can, no doubt, be had, but at what 
frightful cost? The temporary oblivion from pain, or 
anxiety, or fatigue is always followed by subsequent re¬ 
action. An increase of mental depression and physical 
wretchedness, accompanied very often by complete nerv¬ 
ous collapse, always follow, while the action of the drug 
on the brain lessens its normal capacity for genuine en¬ 
joyment and pleasure. 



56 


The Catholic Nurse 


There is a danger in alcohol which is not found in 
other drugs. It is the drug that is in commonest use. 
It is a stimulant which is most convenient and seductive. 
Other drugs may have in them the characteristics of med¬ 
icine; they may be associated with efforts to allay pain 
or to produce tranquility, but the use of alcohol is not 
confined to the sick room, nor is it controlled by the doc¬ 
tor’s orders. Posing under the mask of hospitality and 
conviviality it has interwoven itself with our social cus¬ 
toms from birth to death. Therefore, not only because 
of the harm it can do, but because of its widespread use 
in social life, it is, perhaps, the most dangerous of the 
drugs for the nurse. Now the nurse’s office and duties 
are so great and so responsible that she must exercise 
the utmost caution in regard to all drugs, alcohol included. 
Where drugs are concerned, no person engaged in nursing 
can afford to take risks, for there are few careers such as 
this in which the exercise of self-control is so necessary. 
To do her work successfully the nurse must have abso¬ 
lute control over her impulses, passions, cravings and ap¬ 
petites. She is the best nurse who is best self-governed. 
She is most worthy of her profession who in every cir¬ 
cumstance of her life can be relied upon to act according 
to reason and conscience. 

Again, the nurse must always be fit in body and mind. 
The strain of work, the frequent emergencies that occur 
demand this imperatively. The nurse must have clear¬ 
ness of mind and steadiness of judgment to decide quickly 
and to act with decision in times of crisis. Her nerves 
must be steady, her emotions well controlled, and her 
manner quiet and subdued. Conversely, how useless and 
even harmful the jaded, nervous, excitable and weak- 



Drugs and Alcohol 


57 


minded nurse would be is perfectly evident. The smallest 
experience makes it abundantly clear. Hence, whatever 
tends to undermine, weaken or destroy this self-restraint, 
or is injurious to thorough fitness of mind and body 
should be the object of the nurse’s fear and detestation. 
She is in duty bound to avoid it. Before God and man, 
the girl who takes upon herself responsibilities involving 
the well-being and even the safety of others is absolutely 
bound to put away what she knows will destroy her 
efficiency and wreck her capabilities. 

But there is nothing more inimical to a nurse’s charac¬ 
ter or more destructive of her powers of mind and body 
than indulgence in drugs. Drugs and alcohol are the 
irreconcilable enemies of the nursing career. There are 
few careers, therefore, where total abstinence is more 
imperative than in the career of a nurse. The surest 
safeguard for the nurse is to abstain completely, not only 
from alcohol, but from every kind of drug, even from 
those she will be thoughtlessly told are innocuous. It is 
not her own life that is at stake, but the lives of others. 
Again, her reputation and that of her profession are in 
her hands. Alone and unaided she stands with these 
weighty responsibilities upon her. It is clear, therefore, 
that she dare not risk all these for the sake of temporary 
pleasure, or the momentary relief from the pressing pain 
of fatigue. 

One might doubt the truth of all that has been written 
here and set it down to exaggeration. Unfortunately, we 
know that it is all borne out by facts—the saddest facts 
recorded. Every profession has had its victims of this 
evil and, the nursing profession has not been an excep¬ 
tion. Let each one therefore upon entering this noble 



58 


The Catholic Nurse 


calling take heed and be warned in time. Let the nurse 
resolve that nothing which can happen to her will make 
her expose herself to the danger of having 'her name 
added to the list—already too long—of those who have 
ruined themselves and dishonoured their profession, by 
becoming victims to drink or to the deadly habit of the 
drug. 



Chapter VII 
UNLAWFUL WORK 


"Murder most foul as in best it is 
But this most foul, strange and unnatural/’ 

— Shakespeare. 


T HE question of unlawful work is one which presents 
many difficulties, but it is one which no well-in¬ 
structed nurse will leave out of account. One must 
recognise the existence of the evil and the danger to the 
nurse which may arise from it. Though it is hoped that 
our readers may be spared serious trouble from this 
source, yet it were foolish to neglect to learn how this 
matter may be dealt with, should it present itself. 

Unhappily, it is a fact that there are some medical 
practitioners who are untrue to the grandeur of their call¬ 
ing. To these men the life of the unborn child is not 
sacred. It is also true that there are women who do not 
hesitate to avail themselves in an unholy way of the un¬ 
scrupulous conduct of such doctors. These cases have 
nothing to do with medical practice as such. The end in 
view is to escape the consequences of misconduct, or else 
to evade the duties of the married state. With this ob¬ 
ject, these two classes of men and women are united in 
their efforts to destroy human life by the destruction of 
the unborn child. To achieve this purpose, two means 
are generally resorted to. Either a certain operation is 
performed, or recourse is had to the use of drugs. These 
drugs are quite distinct from those treated in the pre¬ 
ceding chapter. They are not narcotics, but to them Is 
attributed the power of procuring an abortion. It is with 
this intention that they are used. 


6o 


The Catholic Nurse 


In regard to unlawful work, the nurse’s course is per¬ 
fectly clear. She can take no share in actions which set 
at defiance the laws of God. She is strictly bound in 
conscience to refuse her services. If she acts otherwise, 
she becomes a partner with the doctor and the patient 
in their guilt, and this is nothing less than the guilt of 
murder. Such conduct in this respect is clearly immoral 
and is indefensible on every ground. 

But there are other cases which are really clinical in 
their nature. They arise from conditions which present 
themselves sometimes during pregnancy. Such, for in¬ 
stance, is the case of a pregnant woman dying of hyper¬ 
emesis or of toxic eclampsia, or of tuberculosis. In these 
and similar cases, immediate abortion is sometimes rec¬ 
ommended on purely medical grounds and regardless of 
whether the child is viable or not. 

But the cases to which we have referred cannot be 
treated on medical grounds alone. From the nature of 
things, moral issues are involved. Hence, besides the 
purely scientific reasoning governing the case, account 
must be taken of the law of God which rules our moral 
conduct. The reason is clear. Physiology teaches that 
the ovum discharged from the ovary and fecundated in 
the Fallopian tubes is substantially free from its mother’s 
organs. That is, it is an individual being. As Catholics, 
we know that it has at that moment an immortal soul. 
Consequently, it has the moral rights of a human being. 
Even by non-Catholics, it must be admitted that the foetus 
has now all it will have as a born child, all that gives a 
viable child the right to live. It may be added that the 
civil code recognises this right, for it makes the child a 
possible legatee from the moment of its conception. 



Unlawful Work 


6i 


It will be recognised, therefore, that our actions in 
regard to the foetus must be governed by the same moral 
laws which rule our conduct amongst one another in life. 
The foetus, from the moment of its conception, is pro¬ 
tected by the laws of God and man which declare: “Thou 
shalt not kill.” In other words, any action directly in¬ 
tended to kill the foetus is unlawful. Such action violates 
the fifth commandment. “We are to bear in mind,” writes 
Dr. Austin O’Malley, “that the human embryo in the 
womb, no matter how young it may be, is as much a child 
as the week-old babe, and because it is a human being it 
has all the rights of a human being to its life.” Now, in 
dealing with these cases which affect the rights of the un¬ 
born child, the teaching of the Catholic Church is quite 
clear. Without going into the ethical or moral principles 
underlying the whole question, the Catholic teaching may 
be thus summarised: 

1. Any action which aims directly at the destruction 
of the life of the foetus is unlawful. 

2. An action which does not aim directly at the life 
of the foetus, but which may entail its death, is permis¬ 
sible, provided there are sufficiently grave reasons to per¬ 
form it. 

3. If there is a real doubt concerning the presence 
of the living foetus, the benefit of the doubt is to be 
given to the mother^ An action which would kill the 
child if present, may under these circumstances of doubt, 
be undertaken, provided again that there is sufficient rea¬ 
son for such action. 

Of course, the operation known as the Caesarian Sec¬ 
tion is always quite lawful. Craniotomy in the case of a 
foetus which is certainly dead, and the mother’s life in 



62 


The Catholic Nurse 


danger, is perfectly good practice. Furthermore from 
the second principle laid down, it follows that if a 
pregnant woman is suffering from some disease calling 
for an interference which may produce abortion, the doc¬ 
tor may employ such treatment, provided his intention 
and the primary object of his action is not to kill the 
foetus but to cure the patient’s ailment. The object of 
the treatment is to heal disease. The life of the foetus is 
not directly attacked. Its death follows only indirectly, 
from the doctor’s action, and is neither wished nor in¬ 
tended by him. The teaching in this paragraph may be 
made clearer by recalling some examples of its application 
which may perhaps be more familiar. For instance, every¬ 
one knows that it is lawful to slay another in self-defence 
when there is no other means of escape. In this case, the 
primary intention is to save one’s own life. Again, the 
captain of a ship may lawfully throw overboard the cargo 
if his ship is sinking. He does this with the intention of 
saving the lives of the passengers. It is outside his in- 

9 # 

tention, in fact it is against it, that he destroys his neigh¬ 
bour’s property. 

One reason which is frequently urged to justify 
craniotomy or the induction of abortion is to save the 
mother’s life. This is not a valid reason. No one may 
kill an innocent person to save another’s life. No doctor, 
for instance, would attempt to kill the mother to save the 
child. He could be tried for murder if he did. With 
equal justice he should be tried for murder, if he slay 
the child in its mother’s womb. It is certainly true that 
very difficult and heartrending cases may be met with. 
At times the death of the mother will seem inevitable, 




Unlawful Work 


63 


unless action be taken to empty the womb. Yet no matter 
how hard the case may seem, the nurse must not flinch 
from the performance of what may be a very difficult 
duty indeed. She must always refuse to cooperate with 
an action which no amount of hardship can justify. After 
all, in motherhood, as in other walks of life, the element 
of sacrifice must enter. Here as elsewhere, it may pre¬ 
sent itself in its highest and greatest forms. The soldier 
on the battle field, the miner underground, the sailor at 
sea, even the trained nurse herself, all these must be pre¬ 
pared to lay down their lives at the call of duty. Is it to 
be wondered at that sometimes the same demand is made 
of mothers in the discharge of their tremendous task? 
Where is the mother, really worthy of the name, who 
would not prefer to die a martyr to duty, than to live and 
have her conscience branded with the guilt of murdering 
her own offspring? 

It should be clearly recognised, however, that the ulti¬ 
mate responsibility in all these difficult cases rests with 
the doctor. Nurses will do well to remember this, and it 
will help them to form a correct opinion as to their proper 
duty. It is a fact that few, if any of them, will be in a 
position to form a competent judgment on the merits of 
each case. They will be ignorant of the complete history 
of the case, and they will be still more ignorant of the 
laws of medicine which govern it. In such circumstances 
the nurse is free to obey the doctor’s orders. Only in 
cases where no reasonable doubt exists as to the illegality 
of the operation or treatment is she bound to refuse her 
services to the doctor. 

A word of caution to nurses may be in place here in 
connection with this subject. Nurses should always be 



6 4 


The Catholic Nurse 


very careful in drawing conclusions from what they see. 
Sometimes through their ignorance, they are guilty of 
very rash judgments against both patients and doctors. 
Because a doctor prescribes certain drugs to a pregnant 
woman, they conclude he is necessarily using an aborti- 
facient, or if a woman has to undergo a curettage, or 
comes in with an abdominal tumour, she is at once de¬ 
spised as being immoral. Nurses must take great care not 
to let their constant association with sordid surroundings 
spoil their healthy outlook on life. True charity “think- 
eth no evil.” 

Lastly, if a nurse should attend an operation in igno¬ 
rance of what is to be done, and if she discovers the real 
nature of it only when it is partially accomplished, she 
may then remain to the end. She may also, of course, 
continue to nurse the case afterwards. Her action in this 
case, therefore, is not cooperation with the wrongful 
action of the doctor, but an effort to restore the woman 
to health. It would be well, however, for the nurse to 
refuse all further work from such a doctor. The medical 
profession as a whole has a deservedly high reputation. Its 
members are earnest, thoughtful and cultured men. But 
in every profession, unfortunately, there will be found 
those who are unprincipled and those who are ignorant. 
The nurse will do well to leave these severely alone. By 
doing so her practice will not suffer, while her peace of 
mind and her reputation will certainly gain. 

Besides these cases connected with medical practice 
there are others which a nurse may meet with. For in¬ 
stance, a nurse will sometimes be approached by others 
and asked to administer certain drugs with the evident in¬ 
tention of procuring abortion. It may be the case of a 



Unlawful Work 


6S 


young girl who has been led astray and who pleads her 
ignorance of what she has done, or the disgrace im¬ 
pending to herself or her family; or, again it may be a 
married woman without any conscience who wishes to be 
relieved of the burden she is carrying. It is well here to 
remember that no drug will produce abortion with cer¬ 
tainty unless taken in doses that are dangerous to the 
mother. But the intention or object of taking the drug 
is sinful; therefore, the answer of the conscientious nurse 
can be one only. She must absolutely refuse to comply 
with the request. It is as much of an act of murder to 
destroy the life of the foetus by administering drugs as to 
crush its head with a forceps. In both cases an innocent 
life is destroyed and murder is committed. 

The Catholic nurse should remember that in these 
cases she may often find an occasion of doing much good 
to her neighbour. Few stand in such dire need of assist¬ 
ance as the young girl who has been led astray. The 
help she needs is certainly not of the kind she may be 
seeking. But there are other aids which the generous- 
hearted Catholic nurse can easily bestow upon her. The 
nurse can, in the first place, interest herself in the case. 
She can show sympathy and make the girl feel she is not 
despised or outside the pale of civilisation. It may be 
possible to direct her to a proper home where she can 
remain till the child is born, and where her good name 
will be guarded. If the girl be a Catholic, the nurse 
will do well to put her in touch with the local priest or 
some religious order of nuns. In such ways the nurse 
can achieve a work of very great charity. She will not 
only succeed in preventing a great crime, but she will give 
the girl a new and a better start in life. 



66 


The Catholic Nurse 


To know clearly her duty in these matters is of great 
importance to every nurse. For one reason or another 
she will often be consulted by women and asked to do 
what she should know is absolutely forbidden by Cath¬ 
olic teaching. These women think the trained nurse is 
well acquainted with methods of procuring abortion. 
They will take it for granted that she will consent to em¬ 
ploy them and that in the hands of the trained nurse they 
are safe from all dangerous consequences. Perhaps, too, 
a natural delicacy will cause them to apply to one of their 
own sex rather than to a physician. But very often these 
people do not understand what they are doing and are 
frequently quite ignorant of the moral consequences of 
their conduct. They do not understand that their action 
really destroys a human life, that it is, in fact, the murder 
of their offspring. It is the duty of the well-trained 
Catholic nurse to instruct such persons and to enlighten 
them when the opportunity presents itself. She must 
refuse to have anything to do with such conduct, but 
in her refusal she may find the occasion of bringing such 
poor people to a better way of thinking. A kind word 
spoken at the right moment may achieve much, if the 
nurse who speaks it is herself earnest and sincere. Such 
a nurse will seldom fail to gain her point and save many 
from the misery and wretchedness which their misdeeds 
would certainly otherwise bring upon them. 

It will be found that this subject is frequently dis¬ 
cussed by nurses or by others in the presence of a Cath¬ 
olic nurse, and the various methods to undo the working 
of God’s laws will be made topics of conversation. Their 
lawfulness, and even desirability, will be defended. But 
the attitude of the Catholic nurse must be always uncom- 



Unlawful Work 


67 


promising. She is a Catholic and she is a woman. As 
a Catholic her faith and all she holds sacred condemn 
these practices. As a woman, her honour is at stake, and 
it is her duty to defend it. If there are women who think 
lightly of these matters, it is well to remember that this 
is no reason why Catholics should forget it, and join 
themselves to those who trample upon and dishonour 
woman in her highest privilege and most glorious pre¬ 
rogative—her motherhood. Fortunately, this sad side of 
her work is by no means one which can ever claim much 
of a Catholic nurse’s time or attention; but it may provide 
one of the calls for unflinching fidelity to duty which she 
must be always prepared to meet. 



Chapter VIII 

THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS 

“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he 
cannot enter the Kingdom of God—John 3-5. 

I N THE practice of her profession the Catholic nurse 
may find herself at times face to face with certain 
duties concerning the spiritual welfare of her neigh¬ 
bour. Although primarily engaged to tend to the bodily 
needs of her patient, yet she must never forget that the 
soul also has its needs. In sickness and especially when 
death is approaching, the soul stands ever in need of 
greater aid. It may well happen that the nurse alone can 
give this aid, or that she alone can procure it for her 
patient. Out of charity, she is then bound to do her best. 
These duties have certain difficulties, and with some of 

tr 

them we now propose to deal. 

It is very advisable in the first place for a Catholic 

nurse to prepare herself to discharge properly the serious 

obligations which may fall upon her in the course of her 

nursing career, even though they are not strictly a part 

of her duties as nurse. In general, it may be said that 

the duties a nurse will meet with will be concerned with 

the three Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, and 

Extreme Unction. It is with these alone that we shall 

concern ourselves in this and the two following chapters. 

It is well to remember that an earnest nurse may find 

§ 

many an occasion of bringing her patients to a better way 
of living and of getting them to approach the Sacraments 
more frequently. This is more efficaciously secured by 
the influence of the nurse’s own life and character, than 
by anything in the nature of preaching or exhortation, 


The Baptism of Infants 


69 


which would indeed be very much out of place. But a 
nurse who is penetrated with a deep conviction of her 
religion, who is earnest in its practice, who is lofty in her 
ideals, and who ever strives to live up to them will sel¬ 
dom fail to win her patient to a better and holier way of 
living. 

Regarding the administration of the Sacraments to the 
sick, and the duties the nurse may have to perform, we 
shall take, first, the consideration of Baptism. Cases 
sometimes arise in regard to the administration of this 
Sacrament which may present practical difficulties to the 
nurse. Our Holy Faith teaches us that Baptism is nec¬ 
essary for salvation. Hence, it becomes an imperative 
duty on the part of those responsible for the infant child 
to procure this grace for it. This duty rests primarily on 
the parents, but if they neglect their duty the case may 
arise when others, and among them the nurse, must see 
to the baptism of the child. When the nurse finds herself 
in this position she must out of charity do her best for 
the infant, and if necessary, she must baptise it herself. 
Generally speaking, the cases that a nurse is likely to meet 
in regard to this Sacrament are briefly these: 

(a) First, we may suppose the child born is strong 
and healthy. In this case, the nurse can never be wholly 
responsible for its baptism. However, where Catholic 
parents are either ignorant or careless, it may happen 
that, if the child is to be baptised, only the nurse can 
secure this being done. The safest course for her to 
adopt is to inform the local priest and be guided by him 
in the matter. Tact and discretion are also necessary in 
dealing with the parents, who otherwise may oppose or 



7 o 


The Catholic Nurse 


resent the interference of the nurse and so prevent her 
from securing the baptism of the child. 

(b) Secondly, the infant may be born in a weak con¬ 
dition and in danger of death. A priest should at once 
be sent for and his arrival awaited, provided there is no 
danger of the infant dying in the interval. The doctor 
or, in his absence, the nurse, must decide this question. 
If it is impossible to send for the priest, the doctor, if he 
be a Catholic, should baptise the child. The nurse, if she 
knows he is a Catholic, should have no difficulty in re¬ 
minding him of his duty, and asking him to baptise the 
infant. His anxiety for the safety of the mother may 
easily cause him to overlook the needs of the child. If 
he be not a Catholic, or if he refuse or delay for any 
dangerous length of time, the nurse should baptise the 
child herself. It cannot be too clearly emphasised that, 
in these cases, moments are precious, and no time is to 
be lost. A knowledge of what to do and decision in do¬ 
ing it are essential. 

It is well to remember that a nurse should baptise the 
infant of Protestant parents provided it is in a dying con¬ 
dition and when the minister is not sent for. The reason 
why a nurse may baptise in these cases is that it may be 
presumed that the parents, if they realised the necessity 
of baptism and the inestimable benefits it confers upon 
the infant would not object to the nurse conferring the 
. Sacrament under the circumstances. The nurse should 
always act quietly and without ostentation. Every Cath¬ 
olic nurse would do well to practise once or twice upon 
a dummy the manner of conferring this Sacrament. It 
is quite a simple matter; but its importance is so great 
that it is wise to take all precautions against making a 



The Baptism of Infants 


7i 


mistake when one is suddenly called upon to act. The 
young girl about to enter upon her career as nurse should 
make use of a doll and go through the action of baptising 
it. Having put some water in a small vessel, she should 
pour the water on the head of the doll saying, while pour¬ 
ing the water, “I baptise thee in the name of the Father 
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” By taking this 
simple precaution, she becomes familiar with the method 
of conferring this Sacrament and will find herself quite 
prepared for any emergency that may arise in the sick 
room. 

(c) The third case we shall consider arises in con¬ 
nection with what is called “miscarriage.” Here the diffi¬ 
culties are greater and, as usually there can be no ques¬ 
tion of getting the priest, it becomes all the more impera¬ 
tive for the nurse to know how she is to act. It must be 
borne well in mind that every living foetus is a human 
being. The reason is that, from the moment of perfect 
conception, the human soul is present. It follows, there¬ 
fore, that every effort should be made to baptise the 
foetus whenever it has been discharged alive. In regard 
to all cases under this heading the following are the prin¬ 
ciples by which a nurse should guide herself: 

(1) If the foetus is discharged during the first period 
of pregnancy, that is, before it is viable, it is always, if 
living at all, to be considered in articulo mortis, i. e., on 
the point of death. By the first period is meant the time 
of pregnancy up to the seventh month. Hence, in this 
case, if Baptism is to be conferred, it should be done con¬ 
ditionally, i. e., “If thou art capable of Baptism, I bap¬ 
tise thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and 
of the Holy Ghost.” Conditional Baptism is conferred 




72 


The Catholic Nurse 


where there is a doubt about the validity of the first bap¬ 
tism or where doubt exists (as in the present case) of 
life being present. As Baptism can be conferred only 
once, the effect of the condition is that, if the first Bap¬ 
tism be valid, or the person be actually dead, no baptism 
is conferred. On the other hand, if the Baptism be In¬ 
valid or the person be still living, then the conditional 
Baptism becomes effective. The words “If thou art capa¬ 
ble,” etc., are not essential. Any equivalent form of word3 
may be used. 

(2) It is to be noted that there is a greater chance 
of life being present when after a brief travail or labour 
the foetus has been quickly ejected. 

(3) In all cases due to miscarriage, Baptism is to be 
conferred by immersion after the bursting of the mem¬ 
branes in which the foetus is involved. The doctor, or 
in his absence, the nurse should take the whole substance 
discharged and immerse it in a basin of clean luke-warm 
water. The membranes, if they are not ruptured, should 
then be broken. Liquid will then discharge into the basin 
and water will flow in to take its place. As this water 
flows in and while moving the foetus about in the basin, 
the person holding it should say the words, “If thou canst 
be baptised, I baptise thee,” etc. 

Where miscarriage has occurred it must be remem¬ 
bered : 

(1) If the foetus is certainly dead it should not be 
baptised, even conditionally. Signs of this would be dis¬ 
colouration, its putrid state, or the odour. If a doctor be 

present, his judgment will be a sufficient guide on the 
question. 



The Baptism of Infants 


73 


(2) Time should not be wasted in prolonged investi¬ 
gation as to whether the foetus is dead or alive. In cases 
of doubt give the benefit to the foetus and baptise it con¬ 
ditionally. 

(3) It is useless to baptise without breaking the 
membranes as these belong to the mother’s body. 

(d) The fourth case in which difficulty arises is when 
the child, though living, cannot be delivered alive. Here, 
of course, reference is not made to the unholy efforts that 
are sometimes used against the life of the child unborn. 
We refer to the natural results of difficult parturition. 
Here again all that is possible should be done for the 
infant by the doctor or the nurse. 

At times a portion of the body of the unborn child 
can be reached. This enables Baptism to be conferred. 
It is sometimes called intra-uterine Baptism. This may 
be conferred by a nurse with ordinary skill and care. A 
tube is used to introduce the water to the portion of the 
child’s body which is most exposed. The water may be 
luke-warm and sterilized and in just sufficient quantity 
to wet the body of the foetus. Care should be taken to 
pronounce the words of conditional Baptism while the 
water is flowing or touching the body of the foetus: “If 
thou art capable of Baptism, I baptise thee, in the Name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” 

(e) The last case we shall touch upon is that where 
the mother dies during the later months of pregnancy. 
Her death is here supposed to be due to some disease not 
connected with her motherhood, as for example, pneu¬ 
monia or heart failure. If she dies from a disease directly 
due to her state of pregnancy, it may usually be taken 
for granted that her child has pre-deceased her. 



74 


The Catholic Nurse 


If it is possible to obtain the services of a Catholic 
doctor, the nurse should call his attention to the duty of 
baptising the foetus and ask him to undertake this duty. 
If no doctor is present, the nurse, after death has super¬ 
vened, may confer intra-uterine Baptism in the way just 
described. But she must in this case be careful to burst 
the membranes which usually will be unbroken. 







Chapter IX 

HOLY COMMUNION OF THE SICK 


“Gift better than Himself God doth not know, 

Gift better than His God no man can see; 

This gift doth here the giver given bestow. 

Gift to this gift let each receiver be.” 

— Ven. R. Southwell, S. J. 

I T IS the desire of Christ that the faithful should re¬ 
ceive the Most Holy Sacrament of His Body and 
Blood as often as possible. Needless to say, the sick 
members of Christ’s flock are included in this Divine in¬ 
vitation. In keeping with the mind of her Divine 
Founder, the Catholic Church provides for the adminis¬ 
tration of this Sacrament, not only to the dying, but to 
those also who are sick. It is becoming, therefore, that 
the Catholic nurse should know what is required when 
Holy Communion is brought by the priest to the sick¬ 
room. She should also know what difficulties may arise 
in communicating the sick, and how they are to be dealt 
with. The following remarks will help her on any occa¬ 
sion she is likely to meet in the practice of her profes¬ 
sion. 

When Holy Communion is to be administered to her 
patient, the nurse should see that everything in the room 
is in order. However simple the surroundings, they 
should be as neat and clean as possible. Special care 
should be taken to see that everything pertaining to the 
cleanliness of the patient is attended to in due time and 
that the bed clothes are neatly and properly arranged. 
In the room itself the following preparations should be 
made as far as circumstances permit: 


76 


The Catholic Nurse 


(1) A small table should be placed near the head 
of the bed, yet not so as to impede the approach of the 
priest to the patient. 

(2) The table should be covered with a white cloth 
and upon it should be set a crucifix between two candles. 

(3) A small glass of holy water with a sprig to 
sprinkle it and a small glass containing about a table¬ 
spoonful of ordinary water should also be provided and 
placed on the table. Flowers may be used, but are by no 
means necessary. When the priest arrives at the house 
the candles should be lit. 

On entering the room the priest proceeds to the table 
and places upon it the pyx containing the Sacred Host. 
He then blesses the room and sprinkles holy water. All 
present should kneel while he does this. After the bless¬ 
ing, if the patient is to go to confession, all withdraw and 
await outside the signal from the priest to return. When 
Communion has been given, the priest dips his fingers into 
the glass of water and gives it to the patient to drink. 
The nurse should then be in attendance to assist her pa¬ 
tient to drink this water or, if need be, to receive the 
glass from the priest and give it herself to the patient. 
If, for any reason, the patient cannot receive the water, 
the nurse should inform the priest of the fact. When 
Extreme Unction is to be given, the priest will then pro¬ 
ceed to anoint the patient. 

SOME DIFFICULTIES IN REGARD TO COM¬ 
MUNION OF THE SICK 

It is quite evident that the reverence due to the Most 
Holy Sacrament makes it imperative to shield it to the 
utmost from any accident and from any irreverence, how- 



Holy Communion of the Sick 


77 


ever unintentional, on the part of the person receiving. 
Special care is, therefore, at all times exercised by the 
priest when administering this Sacrament to the sick. 
From the nature of many diseases a danger may often 
arise when a sufferer receives Holy Communion. In 
some cases its administration is prohibited. The priest 
will accordingly have to depend frequently upon the nurse 
for that information which will enable him to judge what 
is the proper course to pursue. 

It will help nurses to answer the questions of the 
priest if they keep before them these facts. A patient 
cannot receive Holy Communion who is subject to fre¬ 
quent fits of vomiting. But it is necessary to distinguish 
between the various causes of this trouble. If the vom¬ 
iting comes from the inability of the stomach to retain 
food, the nurse may test her patient before the priest ar¬ 
rives, and this she may do by giving the patient a small 
particle of food. If this is retained for about half an 
hour, it will be safe for the patient to receive Holy Com¬ 
munion. If, on the other hand, other causes are respon¬ 
sible, freedom from vomiting for a much longer time is 
required. In these cases, not less than five or six hours 
will suffice to give security in the administration of the 
Sacred Host. In some cases, tumor of the brain for in¬ 
stance, vomiting may occur independently of the taking 
of food. It would, accordingly, be difficult to foretell 
when vomiting might take place; consequently, it will 
not be possible to communicate the patient. It will be 
the duty of the nurse to give the facts to the priest, and 
it remains for him to judge what is fitting and proper to 
do. 



78 


The Catholic Nurse 


Another case, in which there is danger in communi¬ 
cating a sick person, is when the patient is subject to fre¬ 
quent and violent fits of coughing, the danger being en¬ 
hanced when the coughing is accompanied by retching. 
The nurse’s duty will be to report the facts of the case 
to the priest, who will then decide how to act. If Com¬ 
munion is given and the Sacred Host is swallowed, no 
anxiety need be felt on account of expectoration which 
may accompany subsequent fits of coughing. This ex¬ 
pectoration comes from the lungs or the lung passage and 
not from the stomach. Should retching occur and the 
Sacred Species be returned, then the directions given be¬ 
low should be applied. If the patient has difficulty in 
swallowing, the nurse should notify the priest and men¬ 
tion the causes. If difficulty, for instance, comes from 
the parched state of the throat, the priest by applying 
some suitable remedy may still be able to give Holy Com¬ 
munion to the patient. 

In spite of every precaution accidents will sometimes 
happen. For example, the patient may unexpectedly vomit 
soon after receiving, and in so doing may return the Sa¬ 
cred Host. If this should occur while the priest is still 
in the house, he should at once be called back to the sick¬ 
room. If he has left, the nurse must act herself. Should 
the Sacred Particle be clearly discernible in the vomit, 
the nurse should reverently place it in a clean vessel, or 
she may use a clean linen handkerchief to remove it. She 
will give this to the priest who should be immediately 
summoned. The vomit itself should be burned. If the 
Sacred Host cannot be discerned and there be yet reason 
to believe that it is present in the vomit, the whole should 
be burned. 



Holy Communion of the Sick 


79 


THE LAW OF FASTING FOR THE SICK 

The general law of the Church in regard to fasting 
before Holy Communion is that the person receiving 
Holy Communion must completely abstain from food and 
drink from midnight. But some exceptions to this law 
have been made in favour of the sick. It is well for the 
nurse to know what these exceptions are and upon what 
conditions they may be availed of. 

The privilege for the sick is that they may receive the 
Blessed Eucharist once or twice each week without fast¬ 
ing. In order that the sick may avail themselves of this 
privilege, the following conditions must be observed: 

(1) The privilege supposes that the confessor has 
given his approval. 

(2) The patient must have been sick for about one 
month and have no hope of a rapid recovery. It is nat¬ 
urally the duty of the confessor to decide if this condition 
has been fulfilled in any particular case. 

(3) The food given to the patient after midnight 
must be of a liquid nature, though it is not forbidden to 
mix a small amount of solid food, such as bread crumbs 
or the like. Tea, coffee, milk, beef tea, etc., are all al¬ 
lowed. Medicine whether solid (e. g. pills or powders) 
or liquid, does not here count as food. 

The nurse will remember that if the patient has been 
anointed there is no longer any obligation to fast. Each 
Holy Communion is given as Holy Viaticum. 



Chapter X 

WHEN DEATH THREATENS 


“Is any man sick among you? Let him bring the priests of 
the Church, and let them pray over him anointing him with oil 
in the name of the Lord.” — St. James 5- J 4- 


E XTREME UNCTION is the Sacrament which 
Christ instituted to help men to die well. Natur¬ 
ally, it is a Sacrament with which those who tend 
the sick may frequently have to deal. As the adminis¬ 
tration of the Sacrament belongs exclusively to the priest, 
the nurse can be concerned only with the preparations 
necessary for it. 

The teaching of our Holy Faith is that all Catholics 
who are in danger of death by sickness, should receive 
this Sacrament. The nurse will, however, do well to 
remember the important point involved in these words, 
“in danger of death,” as used by the Church and by med¬ 
ical men. The Church means by these words that the 
patient is suffering from a sickness which may probably 
end in death. It may not do so. In fact, the Church 
prays that it will not end thus. But death is probable, and 
that is sufficient. Doctors, however, very frequently mean 
to signify by these words that the illness has reached a 
stage which places the patient beyond all human aid. It 
is, therefore, neither necessary nor advisable to wait till 
the doctors have given such an opinion of the case to 
send for the priest. Frequently, the doctors will not give 
such a decision till the patient is too ill to receive all the 
Sacraments which Christ intends especially to solace and 
strengthen him during his last hours on earth. 


When Death Threatens 8i 

In regard to the immediate preparation for the Sac¬ 
rament of Extreme Unction, the nurse has certain duties 
to perform. Reverence for the Sacrament requires all 
possible care to be taken in regard to the cleanliness of 
the body of the sick person, and in regard to the neatness 
of the room. As a rule, the priest brings with him all 
that is required. But besides the preparations already 
mentioned for Holy Communion, a small slice of dry 
bread on a plate, along with a small portion of lemon, 
should be placed on the table. It will be convenient to 
have at hand some water in a basin and a towel. During 
the actual anointing, the nurse should be ready to assist 
in moving the bed clothes, or holding the hands of the 
patient as the priest may require. Otherwise, she should 
join in vocal prayers for the sick person as directed by 
the ritual. The cotton batten which the priest has used 
should be burned. 

A very important consideration is what to do to secure 
for the sick and, probably, dying person the proper dis¬ 
positions of soul. This matter may lie completely outside 
the scope of the nurse’s duties. But it may happen at 
times that if she does not act, no one else will act. In 
such a case, Charity comes in and urges her to do her 
best for the soul which is approaching the last great mo¬ 
ment upon which so much depends. It may be remarked 
here that there are few things about which so much igno¬ 
rance and, one might say, prejudice exist in matters reli¬ 
gious as about Extreme Unction. Strange to say, this 
feeling is to be found even among really good Catholics. 
People naturally fear death, and consequently, they fear 
what they look upon as the immediate preparation for 
death. Hence, to them the reception of the Last Sacra- 



82 


The Catholic Nurse 


ments appears as a sort of death sentence. This miscon¬ 
ception of Extreme Unction exists not only among pa¬ 
tients, but it is to be found even more frequently among 
the relatives of the dying person and among doctors. 
There are Catholic doctors who seem prepared to let their 
patient die without that preparation for death ordained by 
' Christ Himself. The reason is given that the shock will 
injure the patient; or that it would be unwise to mention 
such a matter to the sick person, as'iio good could come 
of it. At times, the relatives will not admit the approach 
of death, however obvious it may be. Like some patients, 
they suffer from delusion as to the seriousness of the 
case, and so keep putting off the painful task of telling 
the truth and helping the patient to make provision. 

What, under such circumstances, is the duty of the 
nurse? Certainly, she may find herself at times in a dif¬ 
ficult position. She has the doctor’s order to obey. Rel¬ 
atives may be peevish and unreasonable to deal with. 
On the other hand, her knowledge and instinct tell her 
the case is serious. She probably knows that the doctbr 
is fully aware of it. What, then, is she to do? In gen¬ 
eral, her aim must be to see that the priest is sent for 
in good time, in order that the Last Sacraments may be 
administered. To achieve this, she must use great tact. 
While the circumstances of each case must largely guide 
her in the course she adopts, she may regard first the 
temporal side of the question. There is, for instance, the 
need of calling relatives, and of setting in order temporal 
affairs. Then, as opportunity offers, the interests of the 
soul can be introduced and the necessity there is of pre¬ 
paring for Eternity. The course of the sickness and its 
uncertain issue may also be used as an argument. The 



When Death Threatens 


83 


events of the previous days, the increased pain or gather¬ 
ing weakness, will aid the nurse in her efforts to secure 
her end, which is to bring all possible spiritual aid to her 
patient. As the days go by, and the ravages of disease 
make themselves more felt, she becomes less and less a 
nurse, only to become the Christian woman, anxious to 
aid the soul which is so soon to depart from the body 
already getting quickly beyond any assistance she can 
give. Or, to put it better, she merges her character of 
nurse into that of the Christian woman, standing by to 
give what aid she can to a human soul as it passes to the 
Great Eternity beyond. She has slaved for the body, 
yielding to death only inch by inch. Now that death is 
gaining the day, her role becomes greater and nobler. She 
is now to be a source of comfort and of strength to that 
soul till death comes and the Angels bear it away to the 
Throne above. 

The circumstances mentioned are, perhaps, excep¬ 
tional. More frequently the case will present itself where 
the patient has no religion, or it may be a non-Catholic 
religion; perhaps everything will be found in order and 
there will be no question of the nurse’s interfering in any 
way. In the case of non-Catholics what is strongly rec¬ 
ommended is that the patient be instructed to make an act 
of perfect contrition. At all times words of consola¬ 
tion and encouragement based on God’s infinite mercy 
should be used. The standard of conduct here presented 
to the nurse is undoubtedly very high. But it is not 
higher than the exigencies which the nurse’s life requires, 
nor is it above the demands which her Catholic Faith 
makes upon her. 



84 


The Catholic Nurse 


Lastly, we may note that, if a nurse is to be of real 
value in the trying days and hours that precede death, she 
will have achieved this end only in so far as she succeeds 
in establishing a bond of union between herself and the 
doctor and the relatives, and also in gaining their con¬ 
fidence by proving herself a true nurse and a true Cath¬ 
olic woman. This presupposes more than is apparent. 
It implies that all the lessons of early training at the hos¬ 
pital have been carried out during the years of hard work 
that have followed. It means, furthermore, a constant 
watchfulness over self, and an exalted ideal of the nurse’s 
calling which, once it is rightly apprehended, has never 
been allowed to grow dim. Lastly, it implies that religion 
for the nurse must be something genuine; not a mere 
surface coating, nor a matter of sentiment, but a deep, 
thorough-going conviction which manifests itself in all 
its beauty and strength, as each phase of the case calls it 
forth. 



Chapter XI 
PRIVATE NURSING 

“Heaven make our Presence and our practices pleasant to 
him/’ — Shakespeare. 

A LTHOUGH private nursing and hospital practice 
have much in common, yet these two fields of 
nursing differ greatly from each other. It is true 
that in both the same technical skill is required from the 
nurse. In each case the same spirit must animate the 
work. Whether in the home or the hospital the nurse, 
worthy of the name, will ever manifest the same spirit 
of self-sacrifice, the same activity, the same love of work 
and devotion to duty. Yet, with so much in common, it 
remains true that these two branches of nursing present 
striking differences. 

In the hospital one is part of a huge machine. The 
nurse is not alone. She fits into a place to perform a cer¬ 
tain duty at a certain time. The hours of work are regu¬ 
lated, and the work itself is well-organised and co-ordi¬ 
nated. Each sphere of duty is clearly indicated. There 
is neither clashing, nor confusion, nor overlapping. 
Again, others more experienced are always at hand, and 
upon their willing support and help those less skilled can 
always rely. Mistakes will occur, but they are easily rec¬ 
tified. In doubt or ignorance, recourse can always be had 
to wiser heads. In this way there is an abiding sense of 
solidarity which encourages those that are weak and acts 
as an aid even to the strong. It is true that individuality 
is of secondary importance in hospital work. The nurse 
goes whither she is sent; she assumes duty or relinquishes 
it as directed. At times she will find herself attached 


86 


The Catholic Nurse 


to one department, later to another. No effort is made 
to consult her likes or dislikes, her aptitudes or weak¬ 
ness. She must be willing and ready for any duty at any 
hour of the day or night. It will thus be recognised that 
the work in the hospital presents itself as a whole. It 
may have its lighter and darker sides, but a certain same¬ 
ness is characteristic of it. 

In private practice, however, everything is quite dif¬ 
ferent. Here the nurse works alone. Single-handed, she 
bears the responsibility for her case. She has no one to 
advise her, no one to control her, no one upon whose help 
and counsel she can rely. The doctor comes occasion¬ 
ally; he gives his directions, but these are for the most 
part brief and conditional. Between his visits the nurse 
must manage as best she can, with only her own judg¬ 
ment aided by her training to fall back upon. However, 
to deal with difficulties which are purely professional, the 
nurse is well prepared. If she is well grounded in the 
theory and practice of nursing she has nothing to fear. 
Her skill and knowledge, the fruit of years of training, 
will stand her in good stead. With ordinary diligence 
and care, therefore, she should be able to cope with any 
difficulty arising from her patient’s condition. 

But these are not the only difficulties to be met with 
in private practice. Many others occur through various 
circumstances surrounding the case. These call for much 
more than mere technical skill in nursing; and, perhaps, 
more than anything else, they mark the difference be¬ 
tween nursing in hospitals and on private cases. Let us 
devote a little consideration to this matter. 

In the first place, the nurse will find herself in the 
midst of strange and unfamiliar surroundings. In taking 



Private Nursing 


87 


charge of a case she enters into a new world, as it were, 
and this world has its own interests, its own immediate 
ties and relationships, its own anxieties, and its own pe¬ 
culiar outlook on life. For the time being, the nurse has 
to share intimately the lives of others. She knows noth¬ 
ing of these people, the circumstances of their lives, or 
the limitations under which she may have to carry out 
her work whilst among them. It must be remembered 
also that when she enters this new atmosphere, the nurse 
will seldom find it in a normal condition. Sickness, we 
all know, is a very disturbing element in family life, and 
quickly throws a household out of gear. There may have 
been long hours of watching by day, and trying vigils by 
night, at the bedside of the patient before the nurse was 
summoned. Anxiety as to the outcome of the illness is 
weighing heavily upon the mind and heart of everyone, 
and this means that the nerves of even the very best will 
be sorely tried. Is it to be wondered at that the most 
good-natured, under such circumstances, will show signs 
of the strain they are enduring? 

From the point of view of the family, the coming of 
the nurse is in itself an additional anxiety. Strange to 
say, the trained nurse is still regarded by many with the 
same dread with which the ordinary mortal regards the 
doctor. Nurse and doctor are, indeed, necessary acces¬ 
sories when the drama of human suffering is to be staged. 
All admit this, and only the dire necessity of the case 
compels people to open their doors to either. The nurse 
or the doctor are gladly welcomed, but only as the less 
of two evils. Besides this the nurse’s advent frequently 
demands considerable sacrifice of those who enlist her 
services. There is, for instance, the material sacrifice to 



88 


The Catholic Nurse 


be made; for to engage a nurse means to pay a heaviei 
bill in the end. But apart from this, even in cases where 
the financial question is of no consideration,'the nurse’s 
coming often means a very great sacrifice for those who 
deeply cherish the sick person. One can readily under¬ 
stand the pain and incertitude which must be experienced 
in handing over a precious life to the care of an absolute 
stranger. 

There are many who are still old-fashioned enough 
to regard the nurse as an intruder, an innovator, and, 
possibly, a usurper. In days gone by the tender mother 
the loving wife or sister, or the faithful old servant 
nursed the sick of the family. It was their right and their 
privilege, and unbounded love made amends where it 
* could for the want of science and the absence of skill. But 
modern methods have swept away all this. It may have 
been ruthless to do so, but it was necessary. In the best 
interest of the patient, the love and devotion of wife or 
mother or sister have been replaced by one clad in wjiite, 
highly-trained and thoroughly efficient, but, withal, a 
stranger and an outsider. Add to this that from the mo¬ 
ment of her arrival the nurse reigns supreme. She dis¬ 
poses of every one and everything as she likes. She takes 
complete control. Everything even to the last detail is 
subject to her arrangements. Everyone is ruled by her 
masterful will. Now, it so happens that while education 
and custom may cause people to resign themselves to the 
trained nurse, and though they willingly call upon her 
and recognise in her an added blessing in life, her arrival 
may cause a very genuine heartache in those to whom her 
patient is so dear. If we look within ourselves the rea¬ 
sons are not difficult to assign. No doubt the nurse brings 



Private Nursing 


89 


a sense of comfort and of strength. Her very presence is 
an assurance that the best is being done for the patient. 
People willingly yield up to her a responsibility they feel 
themselves powerless to carry. Yet the fact remains that 
the giving up of what nature instinctively regards as an 
inalienable right—the personal care of those that are 
dearer than life—creates in many hearts a very real and 
incommunicable distress. Though necessary it yet re¬ 
mains a sacrifice. 

The experiences, therefore, of a nurse entering upon 
private practice will be utterly different from those of 
her hospital career. In the rather bewildering surround¬ 
ings of her cases, alone and unaided, the nurse has to take 
her bearings and find out the true path to follow. It is 
not an easy task to measure tactfully and prudently her 
sympathies with those around her, and at the same time 
to do for her patient all that her art and the doctor re¬ 
quire. The nurse has to learn as she goes. She has to 
adjust herself quickly and silently to the persons and 
circumstances about her, and while this may be difficult 
at first to one accustomed to the well-regulated life of a 
hospital, good-will, a kind nature, and earnest endeavour 
will ultimately conquer all difficulties, and quickly assure 
for the nurse the full confidence of the family and the 
ready obedience of the patient. It is abundantly clear 
from what we have stated that no hard and fast rule can 
be laid down for the nurse’s guidance in these and kin¬ 
dred difficulties of private practice. In point of fact, no 
such rule exists, and it would be idle for the young nurse 
to seek one. But what is needed by every nurse, and 
what is quite sufficient to overcome all difficulties, is a 
strong character united to a sympathetic nature. That 




90 


The Catholic Nurse 


nurse will always succeed who is sure of herself, who is 
confident of her own powers, who is capable of inspiring 
those around her with confidence, who is forgetful of her¬ 
self and mindful of others, and who can sympathise with 
the weak and feel for the suffering. The most trying 
cases will find her ready and prepared. Her quiet confi¬ 
dence and patient self-control will make her proof against 
every annoyance. Every duty, however repugnant, will 
find her punctual and exact. At all times she will yield 
obedience and respect to those to whom they are due, 
and will demand and easily obtain them from those placed 
in her care. Cheerful and bright in manner, quick and 
understanding in sympathy, willing to help everyone, and 
grateful for every kindness she receives, she quickly 
gains everyone to her side, and secures the trust and 
goodwill both of her patient and of all others in the 
house. Not only will the feeling of dread which her 
advent evoked soon pass away, but she will quickly estab¬ 
lish herself not merely in the family, but in the hearts 
of every member of it. She will at length be recognised 
as a messenger of joy and happiness, and will find every¬ 
one most willing to aid and to second her efforts for the 
welfare of the patient. 

The nurse who during her years at the hospital has 
taken the pains to train her character and to develop in 
herself the qualities essential to those of her profession, 
need have no fear of the difficulties of private practice. 
She can face her future work in this career with a stout 
heart and a fearless mind, and while she will meet with 
inevitable trials and difficulties, her success in her career 
will be fully and perfectly assured. 



Chapter XII 

SOME DANGERS OF PRIVATE NURSING 


“ * * * Give thy thoughts no tongue, 

Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.” 

— Shakespeare. 

A LTHOUGH private practice has many anxieties 
and heavy responsibilities, yet it is undoubtedly an 
attractive career. Perhaps its compensations out¬ 
weigh its shortcomings, as well as the exacting demands 
it certainly makes upon those who follow it. The com¬ 
parative freedom of the nurse when off duty, the constant 
change and variety of her experiences, and the sense of 
power which private practice gives to its followers, are 
some of the reasons why this career proves so attractive. 

Private nursing has also many advantages which 
institutional work does not enjoy. It certainly is the best 
means a girl can find to broaden her knowledge of her 
profession, of people and of things. It also develops and 
strengthens a girl’s character more fully than the regular 
and secluded life of the hospital. But this career has 
also its dangers. In fact, in no other branch of nursing 
is one more exposed to temptation, and the worst of it 
is that while so exposed to dangers the nurse has to face 
them single-handed and alone. She has none of the safe¬ 
guards of the hospital; she is without its supervision, the 
regularity of its life, and the helpful companionship of 
friends. These dangers come from various sources. For 
instance, a nurse’s error of judgment may cause endless 
misunderstandings. This may lead to her resignation of 
the case, to her dismissal, or to bitter complaints follow¬ 
ing her from the home of the aggrieved patient. Again, 


92 


The Catholic Nurse 


an over great sympathy with a neurotic patient may undo 
the doctor’s work, or the same fault may give rise to 
jealousy and suspicions which render the nurse’s life 
miserable. Or it may be an ill-guarded tongue which de¬ 
stroys the peace of the household, or makes an enemy of 
the doctor. 

These are but a few of the dangers which beset the 
nurse on Private Duty. To attempt to deal with the 
subject in greater detail would far exceed the necessary 
limits of these pages. Against them all, however, the 
nurse must stand always on her guard. It has already 
been pointed out that while on duty the nurse’s character 
is being constantly and severely tested. Nowhere is the 
test more searching and thorough than on private cases. 

It will be the nurse’s fault as well as her misfortune, if 
a weakness be found in any part of her character, or if 
through lack of training she be taken oil her guard. 

There is, however, one danger which demands par¬ 
ticular attention, and it is by no means the least of those 
to which a nurse may find herself exposed. It is all the 
more worthy of attention because it so frequently lurks 
in that which attracts most girls to this profession, that 
is, the relationship of the nurse to her patient. In this 
relationship the chief attraction of nursing undoubtedly 
lies. This is happily true of all real nursing. It will 
be the experience of every woman who follows nursing 
as a true calling, and brings to it that enthusiasm and ear¬ 
nestness which every true calling demands. But this rela¬ 
tionship may prove the source of very real danger. 

Now, the relationship of a nurse to her patient in the 
wards of a hospital differs greatly from that to be found . 
in private nursing. In hospitals, cases too often sink to 



Some Dangers of Private Nursing 


93 


the impersonal level of a numerical figure. “No. 5 Cas¬ 
ualty,” or “No. 10 Men’s Medical,” are descriptions to 
be heard in most hospitals. While they suffice, undoubt¬ 
edly, as indications to all concerned, they are at the same 
time quite impersonal. In private practice, it is not so. 
Here, the personal element counts very much. In every 
case the nurse must come into closer and more intimate 
relations with her patient than is conceivable in the wards 
of a hospital. As a matter of fact, in this individual at¬ 
tention to the patient lies the chief excellence of private 
nursing. It is that which makes it such a powerful factor 
in the restoration of health, and so much sought after by 
all who can afiford it. But however good and necessary 
in itself, this relationship of nurse and patient may also 
contain the seeds of temptation. It is true that both pa¬ 
tient and nurse are exposed to danger. But here we are 
concerned with it from the point of view of the nurse, 
and so far as she must protect herself from it. 

Yet, for fear of any misunderstanding, it must be in¬ 
sisted upon that the nurse cannot eliminate from her work 
this personal element. We all know the nurse one can 
respect, and admire, and fear, but can never like. She 
has been thus described by a modern writer: “Her emo¬ 
tions are carbolized, her heart is sterilized, her personality 
has the mathematical perfection of something turned out 
by a super-machine.” One condones her existence be¬ 
cause she is useful and intelligent. Such a nurse may 
have excellent certificates and a thorough knowledge of 
her work, but she lacks that human touch so essential in 
every true nurse. To attempt, therefore, to sheath her¬ 
self in a coating of rules and regulations, or in a cold 
and impersonal manner towards her patient, or in a fixed 



94 


The Catholic Nurse 


and rigid routine in the discharge of duties, is to show 
herself devoid of the best instincts of a woman, and 
wanting in those great but womanly qualities that go to 
make the perfect nurse. The interests of the patient, it 
must always be remembered, demand everything a nurse 
has to give. She must never forget that the nurse exists 
for the patient, not the patient for the nurse. Now, it 
is not easy to describe or to define how much patients 
are always seeking at the hands of the nurse, mentally, 
morally and physically. Perhaps only those who have 
had the exacting experience of a serious illness know 
how entirely the patient depends upon the nurse’s kind 
management. And there are, indeed, few things the sick 
so crave as that ready sympathy and tender solicitude 
which the true nurse knows so well how to give. 

On the other hand, how much the personality of the 
nurse counts in the successful treatment of disease is now 
well known. “The effect on a patient,” says one writer, 
“of a woman whose sweetness and tenderness are rooted 
in great strength of character, whose perception of the 
needs of those dependent upon her is quick, and who is 
thoroughly trustworthy and cheerfully earnest in all she 
does, is enormous.” A doctor, writing of his experiences 
in the late European War, puts the same truth in a more 
humourous way. “As a mere patient I would rather have 
a good nurse than a good physician, if I were so unfortu¬ 
nate as to have to make the choice. A surgeon is a dan¬ 
gerous fellow and must be treated with respect. But, as 
a rule, the physician gives his blessing, the surgeon does 
his operation, but it is the nurse who does the work.” It 
would, therefore, be most unwise for a nurse, through 
fear of any danger arising from it, to eliminate this per- 



Some Dangers of Private Nursing 


95 


sonal element from her cases. To do this would greatly 
injure her work, for it must enter into all she does. It 
is, in fact, essential to good nursing. But herein lies the 
danger. Having its roots in the devoted care and tender 
sympathy and successful efforts of the nurse, and in the 
dependence, gratitude and trust of the patient, this rela¬ 
tionship of one to the other is as beautiful as it is noble. 
But it is quite possible to debase it. Carelessness, or 
giddiness, or the rashness that comes from self-conceit, 
may lead to much harm, even to lasting disgrace. 

It is clear, then, how thoroughly every nurse should 
realise her position. She must have her eyes wide open 
to the dangers which surround her. She must stand 
always on her guard, not only against any word or action 
of her own that would be open to criticism, but also 
against the misleading word of flattery, the deception of 
passing emotions, or the mischievous wiles of unscrupu¬ 
lous persons. It is natural that in the nursing of male 
cases greater danger is to be anticipated. This danger 
will be present, not so much during the anxious days of 
serious illness, as during the long weeks of convalescence. 
Made as we are of flesh and blood, it is evident what 
great care is needed to avoid the danger arising from the 
close and protracted intercourse between nurse and pa¬ 
tient which these cases necessitate. The nurse must not 
forget that she is really mistress of the situation. Upon 
her, therefore, rests the greater responsibility. Florence 
Nightingale says somewhere to her nurses: “Remember 
this great and dangerous peculiarity of nursing, namely, 
that it is the only case, queens not excepted, where a 
woman is in charge of men.” Woman is sometimes 
spoken of as the weaker sex, but in the role of nurse, the 



96 


The Catholic Nurse 


woman is really the stronger. Her fault, therefore, will 
be the greater if by look, or word, or manner, she leads 
another astray, or if, by weakness or cowardice, she fail 
to suppress the smallest deviation from the path of recti¬ 
tude on the part of her patient. 

It will be fitting to mention here the dealings of the 
nurse with members of the medical profession. It is to be 
presumed that every qualified nurse will have thoroughly 
learned her position in regard to the physicians attend¬ 
ing her cases. She will know where her responsibilities 
begin and where they end. She will know the proper 
limits of her duties, and never attempt to exceed them. 
We may also suppose a ready willingness on the part of 
the nurse to show that respect and fidelity which the doc¬ 
tor in charge of the case has a right to expect. But grant¬ 
ing all this, it must be remembered that intercourse with 
the medical profession may also prove a source of tempta¬ 
tion to the nurse. This intercourse is necessarily fre¬ 
quent, and the nurse must meet the doctor in the ,pa- 
tient’s home, and she must often see him alone. So far 
as the medical profession as a whole is concerned, there 
will be little to cause anxiety to the nurse. Its members 
are gentlemen of honour, worthy of every trust. Yet, 
among them may be found those who are quite unfitted 
for their noble calling. Of such (the nurse will do well to 
be most carefully on her guard. On her side, she must 
reflect that her danger is greatly increased if she shows 
any weakness of character, or allows unworthy motives 
regarding her future to influence her judgment or her 
conduct. The rules that should guide a nurse in her deal¬ 
ings with the medical profession are, therefore, quite 
clear. The same principles apply to her intercourse with 



Some Dangers of Private Nursing 


97 


doctors as to that with male patients. The same circum¬ 
spection is required in regard to both. If the nurse be 
self-respecting, and self-controlled, if she be careful to 
avoid all undue familiarity with the doctor and, at the 
same time, exercise prudence over all her words and ac¬ 
tions, if she be quick and resolute in resenting anything 
that is unbecoming in word or conduct, she will escape all 
danger. She will guard intact both her own good name 
and her honour, and the good name and honour of her 
profession. 

Finally, the nurse should always be most careful in 
her speech regarding the medical profession. She must 
not only guard herself from airing her opinion about the 
practitioners she has met, but show herself disinclined 
to discuss doctors with her patients, or to let herself be 
questioned about the relative merits of members of the 
medical profession. She can do herself immense harm, 
and affect disastrously her chances of future work by 
indulging in criticism of doctors. It is always most 
reprehensible on the part of a nurse to undermine by her 
words a patient’s confidence in the attending physician. 
Nothing but the most imperative reason can justify a 
nurse in departing from her proper sphere of duty, 
which is to obey faithfully, and to support loyally the 
doctor attending her case. 



Chapter XIII 

SOME DIFFICULTIES OF PRIVATE NURSING 

“Politeness is like an air cushion. There may he nothing in 
it, but it eases the jolt wonderfully — Anon. 

I T HAS been said that there is no hard-and-fast rule to 
guide the nurse in the varied difficulties incidental to 
private practice. This is quite true. In the last resort, 
it is upon her own intelligence and strength of character 
that the nurse has to rely. Her salvation is from her¬ 
self. But there are a few practical questions which nat¬ 
urally suggest themselves in this connection. To the 
junior nurse who is entering upon her career of private 
work, it may be useful to touch briefly upon some of 
them. 

The matters treated here are not by any means ex¬ 
haustive. They are, as a matter of fact, nothing more 
than some fugitive and very commonplace considerations 
by the way. Their very simplicity, in fact, is one reason 
why they find a place here. One is likely to overlook 
what is simple, yet how often is it that the simple and 
commonplace contain the solution of many of life’s big¬ 
gest difficulties! In them is found the virtue of healing 
many evils, of clearing away misunderstandings, of dis¬ 
arming suspicions, and of reconciling those who are at 
variance. Foolishly, however, we overlook these seem¬ 
ingly simple things, and still wonder why our best efforts 
fail to meet with success. 

(i) The necessity for every nurse to possess tact and 
good manners may well take first place in these consid¬ 
erations. This may seem a very commonplace matter, 
indeed; yet who can measure its importance in a nurse’s 


Some Difficulties of Private Nursing 


99 


career? As a matter of fact, the more clearly a nurse 
realises what is before her when she enters a household 
to nurse the sick, the more perfectly will she perceive 
how necessary it is to have good manners, and to excel 
in the saving virtue of tact in word and deed. Likewise, 
the more she grows in experience, the more will she un¬ 
derstand what influence upon her work and upon her 
progress in her profession good manners really exert. 

Undoubtedly, the true measure of a nurse is the meas¬ 
ure of her spirit. This spirit means the serving of the 
sick with painstaking care and attention, a devotion which 
is unsatisfied till the best has been given to the patient, 
and a forgetfulness of self which ever yields that others 
may have. Such a spirit is expected of our Catholic 
nurses. But even though possessed of this spirit, some¬ 
thing else is needed. As the gem, taken from the earth, 
has within it all its value, yet needs the cutting and pol¬ 
ishing to give it the sparkling beauty that attracts the 
eye and makes it valued and sought after, so to the noble 
spirit of the profession which she possesses, the nurse 
must add the outward beauty of good manners and of 
tactful ways. How true this is, a very little consideration 
suffices to show. 

It is very evident that, surrounded by strangers, with 
the needs of her patients calling urgently for her atten¬ 
tion, and amid the confusion arising from the presence 
of sickness in the house, the nurse will have endless oc¬ 
casions of exercising the restraint and self-control and 
gentleness which only the well-mannered can always com¬ 
mand. Again, there may be duties to do which require 
the skilful and delicate handling of others, if trouble is 
to be avoided. The nurse, for instance, may have to be- 




IOO 


The Catholic Nurse 


gin by putting everything to rights, perhaps to restore 
cleanliness or to bring order out of chaos. It is clear that 
infinite tact is required to achieve this without wounding 
the susceptibilities of others, or appearing to criticise or 
to censure them. 

Then there are the nerve-racked, anxious relatives 
who have to be considered and attended to. The nurse 
has also the task, sometimes a very difficult one, of re¬ 
placing them at the bedside of the sick. She may have 
to restrain their well-meant but harmful ministrations to 
the sick, or to curtail the time they spend with the pa¬ 
tient. Her more enlightened methods may not be under¬ 
stood or appreciated. Again, there are the doctor’s or¬ 
ders to be carried out, which frequently are repugnant 
to the patient. They are sometimes even more repugnant 
to the patient’s friends. Yet, it is the nurse’s duty to see 
that these orders are carried out. She cannot shirk this 
responsibility, how unpleasant soever it may be. 

It is in such situations, and they are the lot of most 
nurses, that good and thorough training shows itself. 
Then it is that the gentle manner and ready tact make 
their value felt. Generosity, self-denial, blindness to 
faults, taking burdens upon oneself, requesting instead 
of ordering, thanking even for acts that are of duty, be¬ 
ing the first to do things with one’s own hands, silence 
under provocation, evenness of temper and of voice— 
these are the often neglected virtues which may seem 
little things to some, but mean so much to others. And 
it is from these seemingly small virtues that big results 
always flow. When a nurse has these, together with an 
inflexible will in matters of principle, she will overcome 



Some Difficulties of Private Nursing ioi 


all difficulties. She will never fail. No situation will 
prove too much for her. In her service of the sick, she 
will secure the obedience of all around her, with the least 
amount of friction, and with the best results for all. She 
will soon attract people to her side, and not only will she 
quickly adjust herself to her new surroundings, but she 
will establish relations of confidence and even of friend¬ 
ship with every member of the household. Resentment 
will be banished, and timidity will give place to trust. 
Everyone will strive, not with reluctance, but out of zeal 
and love, to help her in the arduous work in the sick room. 
But if the nurse does not possess these qualities she will 
meet with constant trouble. Her stay in the house will be 
unpleasant; her work will be unsatisfactory and may be 
entirely profitless, and she will depart from the case con¬ 
scious of failure, leaving behind her the memory of an 
ill-mannered, masterful, unfeeling woman, who, perhaps, 
meant well, but was quite unfitted to be a nurse. 

(2) Another practical matter requiring the nurse’s 
attention is the exercise of economy in her management 
of the sick. Complaints are sometimes heard that the 
trained nurse is extravagant, wasteful, and negligent of 
the property she uses. It is clear, therefore, how careful 
every nurse should be not to give ground for such com¬ 
plaints. The necessity for practising economy is felt by 
most families, and the exercise of this virtue constantly 
occupies their minds. As sickness makes special calls 
upon the family purse, the question of economy may be 
a very serious one. Hence, the mounting up of bills 
during a protracted illness is usually a matter of grave 
concern. The nurse if she be wise will not shut her eyes 
to these facts. Any extravagance or wasteful negligence 
on her part will cause much annoyance and will not easily 



102 


The Catholic Nurse 


be condoned. The nurse must also remember that, on 
private cases, she has not behind her the large funds of a 
hospital. The waste, so often a feature of huge institu¬ 
tions, will not be tolerated in the restricted circumstances 
of family life. 

It is essential, therefore, for the nurse to use at all 
times great judgment and care in her management for 
the patient. She is bound, of course, to secure for him 
all that is necessary in the way of change of linen, appli¬ 
ances and medicine. At the same time she should con¬ 
sider it a duty to curtail expenses and, so far as possible, 
to accommodate herself to the circumstances of the fam¬ 
ily. Heedlessness in this matter always rankles in the 
minds of those who suffer by it. The nurse who reck¬ 
lessly orders whatever she likes, who is extravagant in the 
use of things, who runs up a needlessly big laundry bill, 
or who allows chemicals to stain linen or furniture, will 
not find herself very much sought after. These faults 

will be remembered when her skill as a nurse and her 

♦» 

attention to the patient have been forgotten. 

A difficulty arises sometimes when a nurse is called 
to a case in an ill-equipped home. Supplies are inade¬ 
quate, and the circumstances such that the nurse sees no 
means of obtaining what is needful. If the state of 
affairs is so bad that the nurse cannot do what is neces¬ 
sary for her patient, she may resign the case. It is on** 
for the hospital. After all, private nursing is a luxury, 
and those who desire it must be ready to pay for it. 
But a clever nurse may succeed at times where others 
would fail. She will improvise many things which a less 
careful nurse would order from the stores. She will 
make the most of what is at hand, and she will enlist 



Some Difficulties of Private Nursing 103 


the services of others in helping to provide what is neces¬ 
sary at a minimum of cost, and by good-will and ingenuity 
she will carry through successfully a case which a less- 
gifted nurse would resign, or else, in keeping it, would 
place a serious and unnecessary burden upon the family. 

(3) In the next place, vve may consider the status 
of the nurse in the private family. The position of the 
trained nurse is more clearly defined to-day than it was 
fifty years ago. It can hardly be called a vexed question 
in these days, for the nurse’s status is now very generally 
recognised. Yet trouble sometimes arises over this ques¬ 
tion, and a nurse may need all her discretion and good 
judgment to know what is best to be done. At times the 
fault lies with the nurse herself. At others, the family 
is to blame. Some nurses are inclined, for instance, to 
stand too much upon their dignity. It is certainly correct 
for every nurse to demand the respect and consideration 
due to the members of her profession. Yet it is possible 
to err in this matter by making demands that are far too 
exacting. 

It has been well said that too much dignity leads to 
poor nursing. In general it is the part of the well-trained 
nurse to show a readiness to oblige and a willingness to 
help. If she have the true spirit of her calling, she will 
think nothing beneath her which makes for the comfort 
or welfare of the patient, or the smooth working of the 
domestic machinery. She will generously render what 
service she can, unless it be manifestly such that no nurse 
should be asked to undertake. The nurse who is pos¬ 
sessed of a kind nature which can forget itself in the 
presence of the needs of others, will never lower her own 
dignity or the dignity of her profession. On the con- 



104 


The Catholic Nurse 


trary, she will quickly gain the esteem and good-will of 
those around her, and secure the very best conditions for 
her work in the sick room, for she will show that she 
not only has the skilled fingers and the medical knowl¬ 
edge of the trained nurse, but also possesses the kind and 
sympathetic nature of the true woman. 

Sometimes, however, it will be found that nurses are 
not fairly treated by those who engage them. Nurses 
are not servants. They have a right, therefore, to resent 
being placed upon the same level with the servants of the 
household. Hence, a nurse may rightly refuse to take 
her meals in the kitchen or the servants’ quarters. But a 
nurse must not go to the other extreme. She cannot 
claim to be a member of the family; neither can she claim 
to be a guest. She has not the rights or privileges of 
either of these. Provided she has her meals served in a 
decent and becoming way, she should be satisfied. 

It is also unfair to nurses not to provide them,with 
sufficient help. They have the right to that service which 
the nature of the house in which they are called to nurse 
renders necessary. In large establishments it would be 
quite impossible for the nurse to do all the work. She 
has a right, therefore, to the assistance of servants for 
the rougher portion of the work, and she should insist 
on obtaining it. In her dealing with servants, the nurse 
will need, of course, to show much consideration. She 
should rather make requests than issue commands. She 
should also be particularly careful to avoid making un¬ 
necessary demands upon those who are already heavily 
burdened. The nurse’s arrival has probably already 
meant extra calls upon their service. Here, again, it is a 



Some Difficulties of Private Nursing 105 


case of being kind, obliging and tactful. Given these 
qualities, friction will rarely occur. 

In regard to the apartments assigned to her use, the 
nurse should show herself to be reasonable, for it is 
rightly expected of her that she will be ready to accept 
what is provided for her. Only where the apartments are 
manifestly such that no nurse should occupy them, may 
she refuse; but this will rarely occur. 

In the cases mentioned in this chapter, and in others 
of a kindred nature, where human frailty may cause fric¬ 
tion, it will readily be seen that the nurse must try to keep 
an even course between two extremes. On the one hand, 
she must neither make herself too cheap, not allow her¬ 
self to be treated unbecomingly or in a way clearly not 
in keeping with the dignity of her profession. At the 
same time, she must not display a nature which is hard 
to please, which rarely puts itself out, which always seeks 
itself, and puts its own comfort and convenience before 
all things. Florence Nightingale said, some fifty years 
ago: “In private nursing the nurse is sometimes spoilt 
and sometimes ‘put upon/ and sometimes both.” These 
words are only too true in our own day. But if a nurse 
have the real spirit of her calling, if she be well man¬ 
nered, tactfully business-like and wisely discreet, the kind 
and the generous will not spoil her, nor will she be im¬ 
posed upon by those who are mean and selfish. 

It will, therefore, well repay every nurse to study 
these matters, and to prepare herself for entering that 
world with which her work will bring her into such close 
contact. Success in private nursing depends largely upon 
whether a nurse is recommended by her patients. From 
what has already been stated, it will readily be seen that 



io6 


The Catholic Nurse 


the satisfaction she gives is her best advertisement. It 
will also be easy to recognise that her conduct in the 
household during the case will conduce more to this sat¬ 
isfaction than even her skill and knowledge as a nurse. 
Patients do not care much about a nurse’s knowledge of 
her materia medic a, but they do care immensely about 
how their meals are served, that they are not kept wait¬ 
ing for what they want, and that their families are not 
disturbed by one whom they have summoned in their 
hour of need. Therefore, the nurse must realise, when 
on her cases, that it is the many little gracious acts of 
daily intercourse which have smoothed out difficulties, 
given confidence to others, comforted those in sorrow, 
and brought bright looks to every face, which leave the 
lasting impression. These will be remembered and spoken 
of when the memory of the nurse’s skill and knowledge 
have faded away forever. 



Chapter XIV 
NIGHT DUTY 


“Be wary, then: best safety lies in fear; 

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.” 

— Shakespeare. 

T HE service of the sick does not cease with the set¬ 
ting of the sun. It makes its demands by night as 
well as by day upon those devoted to it. The por¬ 
tion of a nurse’s work which she gives by night is, in 
fact, very considerable, and at the same time very trying. 
As every nurse has to undertake this work, and to bear 
its responsibilities, it will be well to realise its difficulties 
and to prepare to meet them. 

Night duty has problems of its own. Some are con¬ 
cerned with the scientific side of the nurse’s work, and 
these, we may assume, have been studied during the 
years of training. They are, therefore, outside the scope 
of these notes. But night duty has other problems which 
are moral rather than scientific. These, it is true, are 
not without their own difficulty, and they are, conse¬ 
quently, worthy of consideration by every nurse. 

In general, it may be said that night duty “tries out” 
the nurse’s character in a most searching way. It is a far 
greater test of her powers than day duty can ever be. If 
there be a weak spot in her armoury the conditions of 
night work will find it out sooner or later. This fact lies 
at the root of all the difficulty and trouble which a nurse 
may experience in this sphere of her duties. Let us take 
one example. On night duty there is not that supervision 
to which the nurse is accustomed by day. She is nec¬ 
essarily left much to herself. She has few to help or 


io8 


The Catholic Nurse 


advise her. On private cases she is absolutely alone. 
The responsibility which the night nurse bears is, there¬ 
fore, very great. The burden of this responsibility is 
increased by the fact that the night nurse has to carry 
out orders which of necessity must be conditional. For 
instance, she has to give or withhold medicine according 
to the state in which she finds her patient. Unaided, she 
has to decide what is best to be done. Again, the pa¬ 
tient’s condition may undergo a change, for unexpected 
developments often occur at night. The nurse will thus 
find herself in great doubt as to the proper course to 
follow. Should she ring up the doctor, or call the matron, 
and send alarming reports to the friends of the sick per¬ 
son? If she disturbs people, it may prove to have been 
quite unnecessary to do so; if, on the other hand, she 
does not call them, she takes responsibility for anything 
serious, or even fatal, that may occur before morning. 
What is best to be done will prove at times very har¬ 
assing to the conscientious nurse. 

These are some of the difficulties a nurse has to meet 
on night duty, and they are certainly sufficient to show 
how severely this service tests the character and judg¬ 
ment of the nurse. They also show that the nurse cannot 
rest satisfied with the merely scientific side of her train¬ 
ing. She has to take in hand the training of her charac¬ 
ter and judgment, and this she must do with energy and 
perseverance. She must not rest till she is sure of her¬ 
self, and can confidently face any responsibility that may 
be placed upon her in this trying part of her career. 
When we come to consider the matter, it is obvious that 
the responsibilities which the nurse must undertake when 
on night duty emphasise the truth of what has already 



Night Duty 


109 


been written. They also make it clear how imperative 
it is for every nurse to make herself strong, self-confi¬ 
dent, steady, and reliable in the discharge of every duty. 

Let us take another example to illustrate our argu¬ 
ment. The fact that patients are much more in the 
nurse’s hands by night, will test another side of her char¬ 
acter. The smallest experience shows how dependent 
patients then are upon their nurse, and how exacting is 
the attention they frequently require. It is during these 
hours that the sick often suffer most. They are wakeful 
and in pain; the hours seem to them so long; and the 
night appears as if it would never end. Some show them¬ 
selves restless and irksome; some become nervous and 
excitable; while others, though suffering greatly, do so in 
silence, fearful of adding to the nurse’s burden of work. 
It is only the watchful and attentive nurse who will notice 
these last. 

It will be seen that to deal properly with such suffer¬ 
ers, much more is needed of the nurse than to be alert to 
detect a change of condition or to be skillful in applying 
a remedy. To rest satisfied with this would be to leave 
her duty but half accomplished. While doing all that 
medical skill and science demand, there are many other 
things no true nurse will ever leave undone. Such are 
the hundred and one small attentions which go to alleviate 
the mental and bodily sufferings of the sick. Now it will 
be to smooth or turn a pillow; now to ease an aching 
limb; now to adjust a bandage that is hurting; or again 
to comfort with a word of sympathy some wakeful suf¬ 
ferer, or to soothe by patience and kindness one that is 
restless and in pain. Or it will be some small attention, 
such as shading a light, preventing avoidable noises, or 



no 


The Catholic Nurse 


quiet but frequent visits which are necessary on the part 
of the watchful nurse. 

These are some of the incessant demands which night 
work makes upon the conscientious nurse. To meet these 
demands with good-will and alacrity is certainly trying 
and also a severe test of character. It is quite true that 
these small but exacting duties may be left undone. No 
one may be the wiser; the nurse may not be questioned 
about them; they may not be mentioned in the orders left 
for the night; yet the doing of them marks the difference 
between the truly conscientious nurse and one who is 
such only in name. Thus, while it is clear that night 
duty searches the nurse’s character for her strength 
and for her power of judgment, it also tests her spirit of 
sacrifice and devotion to duty. The girl, therefore, who 
fails to train herself in those qualities of character which 
we have indicated, will find herself sadly at fault when 
called upon to undertake the service of the sick by night. 
She will certainly fail where success is most needed, 
although she may indeed escape serious consequences. 
The exact observance of the orders left for her will en¬ 
sure this. But she will fail, nevertheless, in that higher 
ideal of nursing which is satisfied only when she has 
given of her best to the sufferers entrusted to her care. 

Lastly, it must be remembered that there are many 
dangers and pitfalls which may entrap the unwary while 
on night duty. That the hour of darkness should present 
occasions of greater temptation is to be expected. To 
these must also be added the dangers attendant upon the 
nursing of male cases, and upon the intercourse between 
nurse and doctor which have already been dealt with. 
It suffices for our purpose to point out here that these 



Night Duty 


hi 


dangers are very much enhanced by the conditions of 
night duty. It is unnecessary to insist further on this 
subject, for the manifest dangers herein will be obvious 
to every girl who possesses rectitude and common sense. 
But besides these dangers, opportunities will be present 
for laxity in discipline. The nurse will be tempted to 
avail herself of these. For instance, she may be tempted 
to spend her time gossiping with others about the house, 
or to leave her ward, or her patient, unattended for a 
considerable time. Again, she may neglect her rounds, 
let herself be overcome by sleep, and fail to answer bells 
or carry out her orders. Worst of all, she may be tempted 
to cover up her failures by making false entries in her 
reports, or by not acknowledging her faults, if detected 
in them. 

These are some of the temptations to which a night 
nurse may find herself exposed. In the light of what we 
have stated it is hardly necessary to point out how steady 
in character and how circumspect and vigilant every 
nurse must be who may find herself endangered by them. 
The night nurse above all others must have a character 
that is strong and impervious to the special temptations 
to which her work and its surroundings expose her. Only 
the nurse who is thoroughly reliable as well as absolutely 
honest, and who is also patient, gentle and kind, can hope 
to serve successfully the sick by night whether in hos¬ 
pitals or in private houses. 

The beginner will do well, therefore, to fit herself by 
constant effort for those exacting duties which have been 
outlined. She must soon learn that the trained nurse 
will find in night duty an excellent means of testing her 
progress and of finding out how far she is following her 



II2 


The Catholic Nurse 


career in that fulness of spirit which her Catholic faith 
and her noble profession demand of her. Later on when 
experience shall have done its work, she will assuredly 
realise that the nurse who is faithful to her ideals, true 
to her principles, and thorough in all she undertakes, 
need have no fear of the difficulties or dangers of night 
duty. 



Chapter XV 


THE NURSE’S SECRET 

"Rien tie p&se tant qu’un secret ”— La Fontaine. 

H IPPOCRATES, who flourished in the fifth century 
before Christ, is reported to have been the greatest 
physician of antiquity. It is stated that he is the 
author of what is known as “The Hippocratic Oath.” 
Whether he is the actual author or not is uncertain, but 
the document itself is undoubtedly very ancient. As it 
contains the principles underlying the ethics of medical 
practice, it remains to this day an interesting and valuable 
inheritance from antiquity. 

Among the promises to which the Hippocratic Oath 
bound the medical men of those days was one dealing 
with the matter of secrecy. The promise they made was 
this: “Whatever in connection with my professional 
practice, or not in connection with it, I see or hear in the 
life of men which ought not to be spoken abroad, I will 
not divulge, as reckoning all such - c hould be kept secret.” 
The influence of this “Oath” has been far-reaching, and 
oaths containing the essentials of the Hippocratic formula 
were until recently taken by candidates on admission to 
medical degrees at many of the European schools of med- 

. . i r ! \ 

icme. 

The subject of professional secrecy is well known 
among members of the medical profession. Its impor¬ 
tance and the serious nature of its obligation are also 
matters with which every doctor is conversant. The pub- 

r 

lie also understand quite well the obligation that binds the 
doctor. Furthermore, the laws of most civilised coun¬ 
tries protect both the professional man, and all others 


The Catholic Nurse 


ii4 

concerned, by enjoining the custody of professional se¬ 
crets. Even in a court of law, doctors must refuse to 
divulge secret knowledge which they have gained in the 
exercise of their profession. The social welfare requires 
this, for it is clear that those who most need to confide 
in a doctor, would never give him their confidence, if 
they suspected that it would be violated. The obligation 
of keeping secrets, therefore, binds in conscience. It is 
a moral obligation and the Catholic teaching on the sub¬ 
ject is very clear. What, then, is a secret? A secret is 
defined as “some hidden matter concerning another which 
cannot be made known without causing him injury and 
displeasured Now, excluding the seal of Confession, 
which is sacramental, there are three kinds of secrets: 

First, the Natural Secret; that is, when hidden matter 
of the kind described in the definition comes to our 
knowledge. 

Secondly, there is the Promised Secret. This is a 
promise of secrecy made after the knowledge has been 
communicated. 

The third class of Secrets refers to the secret com¬ 
mitted to us on the condition that, if the matter be com¬ 
municated to us, we shall not reveal it. In this case, the 
promise precedes the knowledge. Only on this condition 
would it have been divulged. Again, this promise is 
sometimes clearly and distinctly made, as if one were to 
say, “I shall not tell unless you promise not to reveal.” 
The promise is, however, often implied in the very cir¬ 
cumstances of the case, when, for instance, the knowledge 
is given to certain persons by reason of the office they 
hold. Such persons are doctors, lawyers, and officials of 
the State, etc. The nature of their office and of their 



The Nurse's Secret 


“5 

duties is a guarantee to all concerned that they will not 
divulge the knowledge confided to them. In this sense is 
it understood and agreed upon by all civilised men. 

From its nature, the secret in which there is an ex¬ 
pressed or implied promise of secrecy binds the most 
strictly of all. It binds the conscience in justice. To 
violate such a secret, in a serious matter, is to render 
oneself guilty of a grave sin. So strict is this secret that 
every professional man, if questioned in a law court upon 
a matter of professional secrecy, if there be no other 
way of guarding it, must answer by a flat denial of all 
knowledge. This is true, no matter what the civil law 
may say upon the matter. The violation of this secret 
is permissible in three contingencies only: to protect an 
innocent party from an unjust aggressor; to prevent evil 
befalling the person confiding the secret; and, under cer¬ 
tain circumstances, to prevent great evil to the person 
who makes the promise of secrecy. The medical secret 
belongs to this third and most strict class of secrets. The 
reason of this is clear. There is an implicit contract be¬ 
tween the doctor and patient that all knowledge acquired 
shall be preserved inviolably by the doctor. 

Now, this doctrine of secrets, which is given here at 
length, is of interest and importance to nurses. They 
may find themselves in the same position as doctors. In 
the practice of their profession nurses may become pos¬ 
sessed of knowledge regarding others which is confided 
to them only on the implied condition that they will pre¬ 
serve absolute secrecy. They are, under the circum¬ 
stances, in possession of a professional secret. The obli¬ 
gation which binds doctors, binds nurses in similar cases. 
If, therefore, in the course of her practice the nurse be- 



n6 


The Catholic Nurse 


comes possessed of knowledge regarding individuals or 
families, she is strictly, and in conscience, bound to 
secrecy in regard to it. Cases may arise in which a nurse 
will find it difficult to know the best course to adopt. For 
example, a case might arise in which a nurse is called as 
witness in legal proceedings. Other difficulties may 
occur where the exceptions to the law of secrecy seem 
to apply. For instance, the nurse might know profes¬ 
sionally that great harm was threatening an innocent third 
party, and that it was threatened by him who gave her 
the knowledge; or she might see that great loss was likely 
to befall the person confiding in her, or serious evil to 
come upon herself. Furthermore, she might believe that 
the only way to avert these evils would be to divulge her 
secret. Should such cases arise they will certainly prove 
difficult of solution. The right course for the nurse, how¬ 
ever, in all such difficulties, is to consult a priest and be 
guided by him in the course she should follow. Apart 
from these rather exceptional cases, the nurse must im¬ 
press upon her mind the seriousness of the obligation 
which binds her, for she is at all times strictly bound in 
conscience to keep the secrets of her profession. 

But it is important for the nurse to know who has 
the right to the information she may possess, and from 
whom she is bound to withhold it. In the first place, the 
nurse must distinguish between the various people she 
has to deal with. In the course of her work, she is con¬ 
cerned usually with four different sets of people. These 
are the hospital authorities, the doctors, the patients, and 
the friends of the patients. Again, in regard to all of 
these she has to keep before her mind what is the nature 
of the knowledge which she possesses. Some of her 



The Nurse's Secret 


111 

knowledge regards the illness of her patient, its develop¬ 
ment, its varying conditions, the results of the treatment 
—everything, in short, which the nurse is taught to ob¬ 
serve, to note, and to report upon. But during her work 
she may become involuntarily possessed of much knowl¬ 
edge regarding the life, the family, and the domestic 
affairs of her patient. Few cupboards can be kept closed 
from the nurse. The ghosts they contain seldom fail to 
come forth. 

Now, in regard to the knowledge she possesses re¬ 
garding her patient’s condition, the nurse must disclose 
this to the doctor. When she is on duty in a hospital 
she must also, if required, divulge her information to 
the authorities. These have a right to the knowledge, 
and it is part of a nurse’s duty to report to them accu¬ 
rately and fully upon the condition of her patient. But 
this rule does not hold good for the patient and for his 
relatives and friends. The nurse is not the recognised 
channel of information for them. She assumes a very 
serious responsibility in giving to them unauthorized in¬ 
formation. Let it be definitely understood that the 
nurse’s responsibility begins and ends with the carrying 
out of the doctor’s orders, and she should confine herself 
to this. While in the hospital the nurse will not experi¬ 
ence much difficulty in this matter. The superintendent 
and the doctor are always available, and the nurse can 
always shelter herself behind the hospital rules which for¬ 
bid her to give out information about patients. 

Upon this subject, it is also worthy of note that, while 
observing the regulations set for her, the nurse must 
never fail in courtesy and kindness to all who make en¬ 
quiries. She should be particularly careful not to hurt 



n8 


The Catholic Nurse 


those who are probably suffering keenly, and filled with 
anxiety about the patient’s condition. It is very repre¬ 
hensible for the nurse to give a curt, official reply to ques¬ 
tions, and to leave the enquirers unsatisfied and unat¬ 
tended to. Can it be wondered at that they naturally 
resent such off-hand and unfeeling conduct? To these 
people the patient is one of their dear ones. To them 
the nurse represents the hospital. She must, therefore, 
be very careful not to inflict upon them unnecessary pain, 
and in doing so injure in their eyes the hospital she is 
serving. The nurse’s duty is to show a kind and sympa¬ 
thetic manner; she should answer in some non-committal 
phrase, and conduct or direct her enquirers to the proper 
authorities for fuller information. 

On private cases the nurse may have greater difficulty 
in dealing with such people as those mentioned. Although 
she has not the hospital rules to shield her in this case, 
yet she has those of her profession and the orders of the 
doctor to take their place. These should be sufficient to 
enable a nurse to deal with any difficulties she may meet 
in this respect. While observing all that kindness de¬ 
mands and showing every sympathy to those really con¬ 
cerned, the nurse must do her duty faithfully and fully. 
Beyond non-committal replies, the most prudent course 
is to refer to the doctor all who wish for fuller informa¬ 
tion. It will greatly help her if she provide herself with 
a daily bulletin from the doctor. She can, when cir¬ 
cumstances justify, freely communicate this in reply to all 
enquiries. 

Now, in regard to other knowledge of a hidden nature 
about her patient, his family or his affairs, of which the 
nurse becomes possessed, it need only be said that the 



The Nurse's Secret 119 

nurse is obliged to keep it absolutely secret from every¬ 
one. So far as this knowledge is concerned she should 
be as if she knew not. Neither during the case, nor at 
any subsequent period, is she free to divulge this infor¬ 
mation to anyone. No one has a right to obtain this 
knowledge from the nurse who is bound to refuse it to 
all who may show themselves inquisitive. A little re¬ 
flection here will reveal the fact that this knowledge dif¬ 
fers essentially from that regarding the patient’s condi¬ 
tion. In the latter case the patient implicitly agrees in 
the nurse’s communicating it to the proper people; but in 
the former the patient in engaging the nurse, implicitly 
contracts with her that she will keep secret what she 
learns concerning him or his affairs while she is in at¬ 
tendance upon him. If this were not so, the patient 
would never have put himself in the nurse’s hands. The 
secret knowledge which is thus given to the nurse falls 
under the third class of secrets. The nurse is in pos¬ 
session of a professional secret. She has, therefore, im¬ 
plicitly promised to guard it inviolate, and to this promise 
she must ever remain faithful. 

From what has been stated it will be seen that it is 
most necessary from the very beginning that the nurse 
should train herself in that prudent guard over her 
tongue which will make her proof against all temptation 
in this matter of secrecy. In many things the nurse has 
necessarily to be relied upon. In none is she more trusted 
than when a fellow being demands her aid and in doing 
so discloses what is most secret to him. This trust must 
be sacred to the nurse. She must train herself to be 
ready to accept it, to keep it faithfully, and to safeguard 
herself from the remotest possibility of ever betraying it. 




Chapter XVI 

TRUTHFULNESS AND HONESTY 


“No pleasure is comparable to the standing on the vantage 
ground of truth” — Lucretius. 


E VERY Catholic has been taught from childhood the 
necessity and value of truthfulness, as well as the 
evil of lying and dishonesty. It may be supposed, 
therefore, that every sincere Catholic nurse not only 
knows her duty in this matter, but fulfills it conscien¬ 
tiously. The question of truthfulness, however, is of 
such exceptional importance in the nursing profession, 
that it will repay special consideration. 

To train herself to be absolutely truthful in her words 
and to be strictly honest in every action, is essential to 
the nurse. Every girl, who hopes to succeed in this 
career, must realise how great is her responsibility, and 
how much is expected of her in the matter of truth and 
honesty. It follows, from the very nature of her profes¬ 
sion, and from the reliance people must necessarily place 
upon her, that this must be so. Who can doubt that the 
nurse’s position is always one of trust? Do not truth¬ 
fulness and honesty lie at the very root of this trust? To 
prove reliable where the great issues of life and death are 
involved, is to ensure success; to fail here, is to fail in 
everything. From the beginning, therefore, the nurse 
must train herself to weigh her words, to gain the habit 
of a well-controlled tongue, to be exactly truthful in every 
utterance, and to be rigidly honest in every act. It must 
not be imagined, however, that there is one standard of 
truth for the nurse, and another for the rest of mankind. 
This is not so. There is only the one law for all. We 


Truthfulness and Honesty 


121 


are bound in conscience to tell the truth, and to avoid 
every dishonest action. But in this respect there is a 
difference between the nurse and those in less respon¬ 
sible positions. The latter, if they err, often hurt only 
themselves; but the nurse injures herself and many others 
as well. The injury, moreover, which she inflicts, may be 
irreparable. 

The vocation of nursing means that she who is called 
to it has to devote herself to one of the highest respon¬ 
sibilities on earth—the service of the sick. This great 
and fundamental fact must never be forgotten. To keep 
it always before the mind in the light of an ideal is, per¬ 
haps, more needful in this commercial age than ever be¬ 
fore. At a time like the present, when so many, having 
lost all fine perception, no longer cultivate the true sense 
of values, and when the worth of everything is so fre¬ 
quently measured by monetary returns, the nurse must 
never lose sight of the grandeur and nobility of her call¬ 
ing. Even though it is to her an honest means of liveli¬ 
hood, she must remember that there is in it something 
more—something which is higher, grander, and more 
compelling than that which can be measured in terms 
of material gain or worldly advantage. Nursing is a 
woman’s devotion to the service of those who cannot 
help themselves, and who, without her aid, must perish; 
or of those who, by reason of her skill and care, will 
enter again the arena of life and be restored to those they 
love. Such service belongs to a higher order than the 
material, and money is not the measure of it. 

Now this work, in which the nurse plays so large a 
part, is not hers alone. It is a social work. Hospital, 
doctor and nurse are the component parts of that great 



122 


The Catholic Nurse 


and merciful machine which confers the gift of health 
and happiness upon so many, and the union of these three 
is essential. Upon the perfection of their united action 
depends success in the great fight against disease and 
death. The hospital, as we know, is organized to cure 
disease. The doctor brings his skill and knowledge to 
secure the same end. But both hospital and doctor de¬ 
pend upon the nurse for success in their great under¬ 
takings. 

Now, one of the greatest dangers to be feared in this 
complex piece of health machinery is the untruthful or 
dishonest nurse; for a nurse who is devoid of the essen¬ 
tial quality of truthfulness can render useless the organi¬ 
sation of the hospital, and destroy the best efforts of sur¬ 
geon or physician. From the nature of things it is evi¬ 
dent how completely a hospital depends upon the relia¬ 
bility of its nurses. It entrusts to them the execution of 
all those functions which regard the well-being of its 
patients. The whole organisation of the modern hospital, 
its gradation of rank, its well-directed plans of work, 
its departmental services, all these depend for success 
upon the loyal and harmonious working of the nurses. 
It is easy to realise, therefore, what immense evil may 
be done by an untruthful nurse, or one who is deceitful 
or dishonest in her actions. Without this moral co-opera¬ 
tion on the part of the nurse, the plans and organisation 
of the most perfect hospital will fail. Not only will the 
result be disorganisation, many misunderstandings, and 
continual contention; but the great object of all, the pa¬ 
tients' health, will be rendered difficult or impossible of 
achievement. 



Truthfulness and Honesty 


123 


In regard to the work and efficiency of the doctors, 
the same is to be said. By the conduct of an untruthful 
or dishonest nurse, their work , is affected as disastrously 
as that of the hospital. That the treatment of disease in 
these days depends for its success almost entirely upon 
skilled nursing, is beyond all argument. Upon the 
efficiency of the nurse the doctor relies at the present day 
to a degree unknown in the past. Hence, it is not too 
much to say that the nurse of our day must be “eyes and 
ears” to the doctor. For his guidance the doctor depends 
not only upon the nurse’s skill and power of observation, 
but on the exact and truthful record of what she does 
and sees. He relies absolutely upon the accuracy of 
charts, the honesty and completeness of reports, and upon 
the truthful replies to all his questions. Without further 
labouring the point, it is clear what implicit reliance the 
doctor must place upon the nurse, and how great the evil 
she can do if she fails in truthfulness or honesty. Of 
course, the evil due to the nurse’s failure does not end 
with the harm done to the hospital, or with the disorgani¬ 
sation of the doctor’s work. The ultimate sufferer is 
the patient. He pays by increased suffering, or perhaps 
with his life, for the falsehood of which the unconscien- 
tious nurse is guilty. The untruth may be uttered 
thoughtlessly, or it may be a deliberate attempt to shield 
some carelessness. The result is the same. Consequently, 
the nurse who is deceitful or dishonest in word or deed, 
not only injures her own moral character, but may be the 
source of immense mischief to the hospital, to its staff, 
and to its patients. 

The two causes most likely to bring about the nurse’s 
downfall in regard to truthfulness are fear and human 



124 


The Catholic Nurse 


respect. Mistakes will be made and, fearing the con¬ 
sequences, a nurse will in some cases resort to falsehood. 
Again, deception sometimes seems an easy way to gain 
the good opinion of others, or to prevent oneself from 
losing it. This is, indeed, a false policy, and whoever 
attempts to follow it will soon find this out by sad experi¬ 
ence. Under the best conditions errors are inevitable. 
They are readily forgiven. But a lie is inexcusable, and 
never meets with pity. While the good opinion that rests 
on falsehood is not only dearly bought, it can never last. 
It will be irreparably destroyed once the truth becomes 
known. A reputation for fearless honesty and absolute 
reliability, however, secures for its happy possessor the 
confidence of everyone. No one makes such lasting 
friends as the truthful and honest nurse. No matter 
what the consequences may seem to be, the nurse will 
never lose by honesty and truthfulness. As a matter of 
fact, she gains infinitely if she follows fearlessly the dic¬ 
tates of her conscience, and stands “four square” with.the 
truth on every occasion in her life. 

There is another aspect of the question which, though 
it is more material, is, nevertheless, deserving of the 
serious consideration of every nurse. The untruthful 
nurse, or one known to be capable of deceitful actions, 
cannot hope to succeed in her profession. A reputation 
for dishonesty discounts skill and knowledge, however 
great. It is foolish to expect a hospital to recommend 
for any important position a girl who has left behind her 
a record for laxity in the matter of truth. The fact that 
she was known to be inaccurate and careless in drawing 
up reports, or that she did not scruple to shield herself 
from blame by uttering half truths, or by falsifying her 



Truthfulness and Honesty 


125 


records and charts, or that she did not hesitate to speak 
falsely to avoid disagreeable consequences, will always 
react most damagingly upon the nurse’s after-career. 
Doctors quickly learn of such nurses. The habits which 
the nurse has permitted herself to form while at the train¬ 
ing school, soon betray themselves in private practice. 
So it comes to pass that the nurse, lacking in the essen¬ 
tial qualities of truthfulness and honesty, finds her work 
unappreciated and unsought for. She gets nothing to do; 
no one wants her; she is passed on from one doctor to 
another, and spends most of her time in lonely idleness. 
She soon becomes unhappy and discontented with her 
lot; her early dreams of success quickly vanish, and she 
realises, only too keenly, that the hopes of former days 
can never be fulfilled. The cancer of untruthfulness has 
done its deadly work. As a nurse she is a failure, and 
in the natural order of events she passes out of the pro¬ 
fession unhonoured and unknown. 



Chapter XVII 
DISCRETION 


. “It is common for the younger sort to lack discretion ." 

— Shakespeare. 

I T IS expected of every nurse that she shall keep faith¬ 
fully all secrets and be fearless in speaking the truth. 
The two preceding chapters have dealt with these 
duties from the point of view of the nurse. But though 
we are all bound to keep certain matters secret, and to 
be truthful in our words, yet these obligations present 
special difficulties to those engaged in the nursing profes¬ 
sion. This is inevitable on account of the nature of the 
nurse's work, and of the confidential position which she 
holds. 

To discharge successfully her obligations in respect 
to both secrecy and truthfulness, the nurse requires some¬ 
thing more than good-will. She must, in fact, train her¬ 
self with special care to meet the difficulties to which'she 
will find herself exposed. In her peculiar position of 
trust, she needs to excel in the virtue of discretion, and 
if she is to succeed, she must constantly exercise herself 
in this virtue. She must not rest satisfied until she is 
perfectly sure of herself, and proof against the many 
temptations that may assail her. 

-The virtue of discretion governs our conduct as well 
as our speech. But here it will suffice to consider it as 
the virtue which guides us in the use of our tongues, 
which rules our speech, which tells us what is right to say 
and when to say it. Discretion in speech is opposed to 
talkativeness, to irresponsible gossiping, and to the 
thoughtless use of our tongues on every occasion, Dis- 


Discretion 


127 


cretion, therefore, is the safety-valve of speech, for it 
tells us when to speak, and when to be silent. It likewise 
enables us to guard faithfully what should be secret, and 
to speak the truth fearlessly, when duty demands it. 

Now, the importance to a nurse of this virtue of dis¬ 
cretion can hardly be exaggerated. Its possession is 
rightly counted among her greatest assets. Without dis¬ 
cretion she will certainly prove a failure in her profes¬ 
sion. While the indiscreet nurse is always a source of 
annoyance, she is, in a sense, worse than this. She is 
a positive danger to everyone who has to deal with her, 
for one never knows when her unruly tongue will cause 
mischief and trouble. Take, for example, the nurse who 
blurts out everything to her patient. She details the 
nature of operations, tells what the doctors did or did 
not do, and recounts what remarks they made. She re¬ 
lates her own experiences in other cases, and freely an¬ 
swers all questions her patients may put to her. The 
result of her indiscretion is to inflict great misery upon 
her patient, and probably to retard seriously his recovery. 
Naturally the doctors are annoyed; they complain to the 
hospital authorities; there is trouble on all sides; every¬ 
one is angry and put out; and all this is due to the indis¬ 
cretion of the nurse. 

In her dealings with her patients, therefore, the nurse 
must exercise the utmost discretion. It is no business of 
hers to give them any information. No matter how 
curious they may be, or how insistently they may ply her 
with questions, the nurse must quietly but firmly refuse 
to satisfy them. While conditions of suffering and weak¬ 
ness prevail, much information, which at other times 
might be quite harmless, would be very injurious to the 



128 


The Catholic Nurse 


sick person. Hence, it is but common charity to withhold 
this from them, and to succeed in doing so requires great 
discretion on the part of the nurse. 

What, indeed, is most needed for the sick is an at¬ 
mosphere that is bright, joyful and peaceful. Now, it 
is one of the great arts of nursing to create such an at¬ 
mosphere, for it is well known that whatever secures for 
the sick an increase of will power to fight for life, and 
banishes from them anxiety or fear or depression, is of 
the utmost importance. Hence, the care that is now 
taken to surround the sick with everything that is bright 
and cheerful. Flowers are freely used to decorate and 
brighten the wards or rooms, while every effort is made 
to hide away the more painful and sordid side of sick¬ 
ness, and to put out of sight whatever would bring sad¬ 
ness or fear to the patient. For the same reason it is 
important that the nurses should have bright and cheer¬ 
ful manners. A nurse who is always joyful and smiling, 
who comes like a ray of sunshine into the sick room, 
and who radiates an air of serenity and of cheerful con¬ 
fidence, is not only securing the best conditions of work 
for herself, but is an immense help to her patients. She 
inspires them with her own confidence, and, in some 
strange way, her vitality communicates itself to them. 
Patients readily obey her, and always feel the better for 
her presence. 

These considerations serve to emphasize how impor¬ 
tant it is for the nurse to be discreet in the use of her 
tongue. She must master the golden rule of silence when 
she gives herself to the care and service of the sick, for 
it is clear that the talkative and indiscreet nurse can do 
endless mischief by the bedside of the sick. Instead of 



Discretion 


129 


being a messenger of joy and of hope, she may become 
the source of great misery. Her indiscretion may actu¬ 
ally defeat the best efforts of doctor or hospital on behalf 
of her patient. The nurse has, therefore, a serious re¬ 
sponsibility in this matter. Not only must she never be 
guilty of unbecoming and hurtful speech with her pa¬ 
tients, but she must be so perfect in her self-control that 
she will never allow even a slip of the tongue to betray 
her. To do her duty by the sick will often tax the pa¬ 
tience, good-will and ingenuity of the best nurse. But 
she must be faithful to her duty. She must so train and 
exercise herself, that no matter how curious or importu¬ 
nate or prying her patients may be, she will never find 
herself guilty of an indiscretion, nor give cause for com¬ 
plaint by over-stepping the bounds of that prudent reserve 
which should guard the tongue of every nurse. 

Not alone with her patients, but also when outside 
her hospital, a nurse has great need of discretion in her 
speech. A very little thought will convince everyone of 
the truth of this. A nurse is a nurse always. She car¬ 
ries with her many responsibilities, many obligations, and 
many confidences. She cannot consider herself absolved 
from these, even when she is outside the precincts of the 
hospital, and is not wearing her uniform. Hence, a nurse 
must never permit herself to talk with others about her 
patients. She must not discuss or criticise with outsiders 
her hospital or training school. It is an absolute want of 
loyalty on her part to do so. She must also guard her¬ 
self against the desire “to tell things,” so strong in some 
human hearts. She fails herself and fails her profession, 
if she permits- herself to become the centre of an idle, 
inquisitive group, while retailing for their amusement her 



130 


The Catholic Nurse 


“experiences” in hospital, or by the bedside of the sick, 
or with doctors she has met. Even in the bosom of her 
own family, the nurse must guard herself against the 
too free use of her tongue. Her position of trust does 
not end when she enters her own home. She can be just 
as blameworthy for indiscretion among her relatives, as 
amongst her acquaintances, and as untrue to her obliga¬ 
tions in her home as outside of it. 

Sometimes the indiscretion to which we have referred 
is due to thoughtlessness and inexperience; more often 
the cause of this evil lies in the vanity of the nurse. This 
weakness is appealed to by certain people who regard 
the nurse as a source of all kinds of information, and as 
one who has had many varied and thrilling experiences. 
The nurse’s skill in the management of the sick usually 
impresses the ignorant, and this leads them to attribute 
to her a knowledge to which she has no real claim. Hence, 
they make much of the nurse, appeal to her for all kinds 
of remedies, and beg her to tell them the experiences of 
a nurse’s life. 

Under such circumstances, the vain and conceited girl 
easily falls a victim to these temptations. The subtle 
flattery of hearing the words, “Nurse said so,” or of 
posing before the ignorant, puts to sleep the vigilant 
guard she had promised to keep over herself. She for¬ 
gets her obligations, and abandons her promises. Too 
soon, alas, she takes her rank among those garrulous and 
indiscreet girls who are a danger to everyone, a menace 
to themselves, and a disgrace to their profession. When 
it is probably too late, such a nurse will discover how 
foolish she has been. She will realise with regret that 
a conceited mind and an indiscreet tongue can do their 




Discretion 


131 

owners exceedingly great harm. She will find that she 
has antagonised doctors, has earned the disgust of all 
sensible people, that congenial and remunerative work is 
hard or impossible to get, and that positions of trust are 
always withheld from her. In her case, the saddest words 
are these: “What might have been!” 

The girl, therefore, who takes her work seriously, 
and sets out to succeed in the nursing profession, must 
rigidly and constantly exercise herself in great restraint 
over her speech. She must cultivate the habit of re¬ 
ticence, and of concealing things that need not be told. 
She must not rest till she has gained complete mastery 
over herself, and can face the difficult duties of her life, 
certain that neither the flattery of others, nor any un¬ 
guardedness on her own part, will ever cause her to be¬ 
tray herself, pr to fail in what she owes to her hospital, 
to her doctors, and to her patients. 



Chapter XVIII 


“ON CALL’' 

“One by one thy duties wait thee; 

Let thy whole strength go to each; 

Let no future dreams elate thee; 

Learn thou first what these can teach ” 

—Adelaide Proctor. 

E VERY doctor considers himself morally and profes¬ 
sionally bound to respond to a demand for his pro¬ 
fessional services. Is a nurse who reports herself 
“on call” equally bound to respond to every demand for 
her service? This, it will be admitted, is a question of 
practical interest to every nurse. 

It is clear, in the first place, that the nurse has the 
same right as the doctor to specialize in certain branches 
of work. If she wishes, she may limit the scope of the 
service which she is prepared to give. She may, for in¬ 
stance, elect to nurse only mental cases, or surgical cases; 
or she may confine herself to work in private hospitals, 
etc. This is quite within her province; no one can ques¬ 
tion^. But what of the nurse who simply reports at the 
registry or elsewhere that she is “on call” for general 
nursing? Such a nurse is in exactly the same position 
as a general practitioner. She must respond to the call 
of duty when it comes. Complaints are often heard of 
the attitude which some nurses take when called upon 
to give their services. Despite the fact that they have 
reported themselves “on call,” it is said that they refuse 
to respond when their services are requested. It is com¬ 
plained that some nurses are guilty of “picking their 
cases.” Certain ones refuse because the case is not an 


133 


“On Call” 

“easy one”; some decline because it is not a so-called 
“good case”; some refuse to leave the city, while others 
shelter themselves behind more or less inadequate and 
trivial excuses. 

Here may be mentioned another complaint which is 
sometimes made against nurses. It is often said that 
some are dilatory in answering calls. They accept the 
case, but do not report for work with the promptness 
that is incumbent upon them. In some Instances, they 
waste much time before they put in an appearance, and 
meet the exasperated doctor or patient with excuses that 
are silly and banal. Such nurses seem quite regardless 
of the inconvenience they cause to doctors. The demand 
upon the doctor's time, the harm which delay will cause 
both to him and to those awaiting his attention, are mat¬ 
ters of no concern to the dilatory nurse. She is equally 
regardless of the unnecessary suffering which her conduct 
will certainly entail on her patient. She does not con¬ 
sider these things, and puts her own convenience before 
everything. It is perfectly clear that such conduct is 
quite unprofessional, and absolutely foreign to the true 
spirit of nursing. The nurse who fails to respond to 
every honest call, or who shows herself slothful or un¬ 
punctual in reporting for duty, proves herself unworthy 
of this noble profession. Her conduct is not only hurtful 
to herself and to those immediately concerned, but it is 
detrimental to the whole nursing body. 

The rule, therefore, which a nurse should make for 
herself is to be either “on call” or not “on call,” and to 
this rule she should adhere most strictly and conscien¬ 
tiously. Considering the responsibilities that rest upon 
her, the nurse should consider herself as much bound as 



134 


The Catholic Nurse 


the doctor to respond to every call for her professional 
service. She is certainly free, we admit, to abstain from 
reporting herself “on call,” because health, business, or 
her own convenience, may indicate that she should rest a 
while. But once having reported herself “on call,” she 
fails herself, and fails her profession, if she refuses to 
respond when the demand upon her is made. 

In the matter of remuneration, a nurse is always 
justified in having a proper regard for a just reward of 
her services. She is entitled to ask a guarantee of this 
before she undertakes a case. But the fact that the case 
comes from a doctor, or a recognised nursing home, is 
usually quite sufficient protection for the nurse’s inter¬ 
ests. She should consider herself bound to act upon it. 
Even should the call come directly from a private fam¬ 
ily, a little experience will be sufficient to guide the nurse 
how best to act. Should she find she has undertaken a 
case where her remuneration seems very doubtful, she 
can notify the doctor and resign the case. The hospital 
is always available for such cases. On the other hand, 
these cases often present opportunities for the exercise 
of great charity. To this the nurse is in no way bound, 
but should it be possible, she may elect to continue on 
the case as an act of charity. She will, in doing so, be 
acting according to the highest ideals of her Faith and of 
her profession. But such a course may not be possible 
for the nurse, and in this case she need have no scruple 
in declining any further responsibility. She can conscien¬ 
tiously retire from the case. 

Lastly, the nurse should make it a rule to be prompt 
in answering her calls. She should set out for her des¬ 
tination in the shortest time, and by the most direct route. 



“On Call” 


135 


If the hour of arrival has been agreed upon, it is the 
nurse’s duty to be punctual, and to report for duty at the 
time appointed. To act otherwise is to place uppermost 
not her duty, but her own convenience. This is selfish 
and unworthy of one who has given herself to the most 
unselfish of professions, and, furthermore, shows that 
she is unworthy of that respect and confidence to which 
every true nurse is entitled. Were nurses more exact in 
answering calls and in punctuality in attending them, 
fewer complaints would be heard against this profession, 
and fewer nurses would be idle for so much of their time, 
or so discontented with their lot in life. The remedy, it 
will be evident, lies with the conscientious nurse herself. 
Those who- are faithful themselves and who, by their 
example and influence, help others to realise more fully 
the obligations of their profession, can do most to remove 
this blemish upon the good name of the nursing profes¬ 
sion. 


♦ 



Chapter XIX 

A GOOD TIME AND BAD INFLUENCES 

"Thou must be like a promontory of the sea, against which 
though the waves beat continually, yet it both itself stands, and 
about it are those swelling waves stilled and quieted. >> 

—Marcus Aurelius. 

I T IS safe to say that every girl who goes through her 
training school conscientiously leaves it a better 
woman. The eyes of her soul have been opened, the 
range of her sympathies widened, and her character 
moulded by the events in which she has participated dur¬ 
ing the period of training. With these years of good work 
accomplished, the young nurse goes forth to begin her 
career, conscious of her powers, full of courage, and ani¬ 
mated with hope for the future. The time of trial is 
over. The years of preparation and of promise are now 
to yield their fruit. 

Henceforth, a busy life awaits the nurse. It should, 
taking everything into consideration, be a useful and a 
happy one: useful, because it is devoted unselfishly to the 
care of those most in need of care; happy, because the 
nurse will learn, in the conscientious discharge of her 
duties, the secret of true happiness. She will learn also 
that happiness is found in the absorption of her faculties 
into a great calling which fills and satisfies the soul, and 
that it comes to all, not from what they manage to get 
out of life, but from what they give to it by their own 
efforts and sacrifice. But as she enters upon the serious 
and exacting duties of her profession, the earnest and 
conscientious girl may indeed feel a sense of overwhelm¬ 
ing responsibility. In the midst of surroundings that are 


A Good Time and Bad Influences 


137 


new and strange to her, and while still somewhat uncer¬ 
tain of herself, she must be prepared to endure many 
anxious moments. Tormenting doubts and many 
anxieties regarding the success of her efforts will fill her 
mind. “Suppose the doctors are not satisfied”; “Sup¬ 
pose I make mistakes”; “Suppose something goes wrong 
with the patient”; these, and such like questionings, will 
frequently present themselves to the young nurse’s mind. 
Naturally, they will be disquieting, and, perhaps, they will 
not be very pleasant. For the young nurse who realises 
her position, it will be scarcely possible to escape feeling 
this deep sense of her responsibility and, at the same time, 
a consciousness of her own insufficiency and weakness. 

Indeed, to be entirely freed from such feelings as we 
have referred to, would not be altogether desirable. To 
enter upon her duties in an easy-going, light-minded man¬ 
ner, would indicate the absence of many fine qualities in 
the nurse, or the presence of a vain conceit of herself. 
Gradually, however, yielding to custom, this feeling 
eventually wears off, while anxiety gives place to that 
quiet confidence which the growing experience of her 
own fitness and capacity soon brings with it. It is then 
that the nurse begins to appreciate the great possibilities 
of her profession. She realises that, in entering upon it, 
she has taken her place beside the priest and the physi¬ 
cian, and is little inferior to them in the magnitude of her 
mission to the sick and the suffering. 

There are, however, two temptations or dangers which 
may beset a nurse on the very threshold of her career. 
They are both capable of doing immense evil, and to fall 
a victim to either of them would destroy the usefulness 
and happiness of her career. One of these temptations 



i 3 » 


The Catholic Nurse 


comes from a certain attitude of mind which indicates 
the absence of the true spirit of nursing. It is frequently 
spoken of under some such phrase as “seeking a good 
time” on one’s cases, which means, when analysed, that 
the nurse sets her heart not on the faithful service of the 
sick, but seeks in it merely her own gain and her own 
pleasure. She uses the career of a nurse to enjoy her¬ 
self, and makes use of the opportunities it affords to 
provide herself with pleasures, amusements, excitement 
and novelty. Or it may be that she regards her profes¬ 
sion as nothing else than a means of promoting her own 
interest in life, and subordinates everything to this view 
of her career. In fact, the nurse’s duties, the interests 
of the sick, and the convenience of others are all sacrificed 
to whatever the nurse considers will provide her with 
pleasure, or promote her own interests. Who shall say, 
in justice and in truth, that this is the true ideal of the 
nurse’s career? 

Now, it is characteristic of this temptation that it 
may never have manifested itself during the years of 
training. It is quite possible that a girl may pass through 
her school without feeling conscious of this attitude 
towards her work, but when she becomes her own mis¬ 
tress, things seem to change. She is now in the world, 
and she finds its pleasures attractive and not difficult to 
obtain. Life and all its interests, undoubtedly, make a 
strong appeal to the young nurse. The restrictions of 
the training school are removed; they no longer exert 
their restraining influence, and the nurse is free to act 
as she pleases. In a word, she is completely mistress of 
herself, of her time, and of her work. It is not sur¬ 
prising, then, that a temptation of which she has hitherto 



A Good Time and Bad Influences 


139 


been quite unconscious, may present itself very strongly 
to a nurse in the early days of her career. At this period, 
it will be particularly needful for her to stand upon her 
guard. While it is not necessary to point out at length 
the evils entailed by yielding to such a temptation, it will 
suffice to say that the attitude of mind which seeks in 
nursing anything besides the best service of the sick, is 
absolutely opposed to the true ideals of the profession. 
It strikes at the root of good nursing; it is fatal to suc¬ 
cess; it quickly undermines the character of the nurse, 
and because it leads to innumerable dangers, it is a source 
of constant peril to the nurse’s safety. Perhaps it is 
unnecessary here to insist how unworthy of a true nurse 
such an attitude of mind really is. Better were it by far 
that a girl should renounce this great calling, than lower 
its standard and endanger herself by yielding to a tempta¬ 
tion so alien to the true spirit of her vocation. 

Another consideration here introduces itself, and it is 
this: The nurse who deliberately debases her profession 
by seeking in it a mere means of enjoyment, or who uses 
it unscrupulously to further her own personal interests, 
will find her life very empty indeed. It will neither be 
a useful life, nor will it be a happy one. It will profit 
nothing to herself, and nothing to those committed to her 
care, for is it not written that we must “seek first, the 
Kingdom of God, and all else shall be added to us”? If 
the Catholic nurse always strives conscientiously to do 
her best, she may rest assured that everything else will 
be added to her share. She will not merely secure 
success in her career as a nurse, but she will have the 
enduring joys of a good conscience, and the assurance of 
work well done. She will be victorious in her fight against 



140 


The Catholic Nurse 


suffering and death, and, in the order of Providence, as a 
reward of her generosity and faith, she will certainly have 
her share of the good things granted to the majority of 
us. 

Another danger which may beset a young girl in the 
early days of her career, arises from intercourse with 
unworthy nurses. Now, it is hardly too much to say 
that one of the greatest dangers to a girl’s safety is an 
unprincipled woman. Unfortunately the nursing profes¬ 
sion is not without these. Amongst its followers, as we 
all know, there are many classes of women. That they 
will all be inspired with the ideals, the faith, and the 
religious training which Catholic nurses should have, it 
would be folly to expect. At the same time, there are 
to be found amongst them very many high-principled and 
most excellent women. These are certainly deserving of 
all that respect which they never fail to inspire in those 
who come into contact with them. But the fact re¬ 
mains that not all those who hold a certificate, or tvear 
a uniform, are worthy of the name of nurse. There are 
those who are without belief, without conscience and 
without character. They have low ideals, their concept 
of life and its duties is unprincipled, and their ultimate 
rule of conduct is nothing more than the passing emo¬ 
tions of pleasure, of vanity, or of ambition. They may, 
indeed, be clever at their work, witty in their speech, and 
fascinating in their manner; but they are none the less to 
be mistrusted. Gifts that are merely external are worse 
than useless, if they are not guaranteed by depth of char¬ 
acter, a high sense of honour, and obedience to principle. 

The young girl entering upon her career must learn 
early to distinguish the false from the true, and what is 



A Good Time and Bad Influences 141 

real from the glittering counterfeit. This will not be diffi¬ 
cult, if she be only earnest and sincere. When she has 
weighed the character of such a woman, and found it 
wanting, she must not only stand upon her guard, but res¬ 
olutely keep herself free from the bad influence it so often * 
exerts. The evil of bad example is, unfortunately, every¬ 
where ; but it has a power peculiarly insidious and detri¬ 
mental when it appears under the garb which every true 
nurse has learned to love and respect—her uniform. In 
regard, therefore, to these and other dangers, it is well 
for every nurse beginning her career to reflect seriously. 
She must take care not only to foresee, but also to pro¬ 
vide against, the dangers that lie ahead. While giving 
of her very best to the great profession she has chosen, 
she must take every precaution to save herself from 
falling a victim to any of its dangers. To do otherwise 
would argue a want of prudence hardly compatible with 
those obligations and responsibilities inseparable from 
the nurse’s career. A brief space of time may suffice to 
accomplish evil which a long period of sorrow cannot 
undo. It is but poor consolation for a girl to reflect, after 
the mischief is done, that she has wrecked her career, 
and, perhaps, forfeited what should be dearest and most 
sacred to her—her fair name—because she lost her head 
for a few hours, or was careless about those seeming 
trifles which were, in fact, the beginning of untold evils, 
or allowed herself to be swayed by those she knew to be 
unworthy members of the nursing profession. 



Chapter XX 

NON-CATHOLIC PATIENTS 



“Be true to the highest your mind can conceive; 

Be true to the noblest and best; 

Let your life be the 'witness of ivhat you believe, 

And then unto God leave the rest!” 

— A. Small. 


C ERTAIN problems may arise from time to time for 
the Catholic nurse who is attending non-Catholic 
patients. Although these problems are not difficult 
of solution, yet it will repay every nurse to make herself 
familiar with them, for she will thus know how to act in 
circumstances that may be strange and novel to her. 

As to her attitude towards non-Catholic patients, not 
much need be said. A few months’ residence in the hos¬ 
pital will suffice to enable one to obtain a clear idea of 
the proper position to be maintained. In no way should 
a Catholic nurse make any difference in her treatment of 
patients who differ from her in religion. She must never 
let it appear that she is conscious of the fact that her 
patient is not of her faith. So far as the nurse is con¬ 
cerned, she is engaged to attend to the bodily needs of 
the sick person. Her duties do not go beyond this, and 
it will be well for her to be mindful of this. Ordinarily, 
she should confine herself strictly to her own sphere of 
duties. To do anything that would have even the sus¬ 
picion of interfering with the religious beliefs of others, 
would be quite out of place in a nurse. It would, doubt¬ 
less, be rightly regarded as a gross impertinence, and very 
justly resented by everyone concerned. 


Non-Catholic Patients 


143 


In the case of those who are dying, the nurse may 
sometimes find an opportunity of aiding the soul that is 
soon to pass to Eternity. Even in this instance she must 
be careful how she acts. But given the occasion, and 
having made up her mind that she will not be misunder¬ 
stood, or give offence, she may suggest suitable aspira¬ 
tions and short prayers to the dying person. At such a 
moment, she should lay special stress upon acts of per- 
' feet contrition and acts of the love of God. In the ma¬ 
jority of cases, the patient regards the nurse as his com¬ 
forter, looks to her in hope, and listens to her with ear¬ 
nestness. Who will deny that there must be a thousand 
openings for assisting the departing soul, and that the 
good nurse has opportunities, which are afforded to none 
but herself, for strengthening, comforting and preparing 
such a soul for its last, great journey? 

But, it may be asked, what is a nurse to do who sees 
clearly that her patient is in doubt as to his state? Even 
in this case something more is required. The simple 
knowledge that the patient entertains doubt about his 
religion is not sufficient to permit the nurse to act. If, 
however, the patient appeals to the nurse, or lets her 
know that he wishes her advice and help in this matter, 
she may then endeavour to share the light and faith with 
which she herself is gifted. This is the only case where 
a nurse can safely take action in a matter which, for one 
in her position, is always extremely difficult to handle. 
It will, probably, be a very rare case. Should the patient 
appeal to the nurse, and show himself really in earnest, 
she should endeavour to get him to see a priest. She 
herself may take the necessary steps to acquaint the priest 
with the circumstances, and ask him to visit her patient. 



144 


The Catholic Nurse 


This will be the wisest course for her to follow, and it 
will rarely be possible for a nurse to do more. On the 
other hand, if a patient questions a nurse concerning the 
Catholic Church, its teachings or its practices, she should 
not appear to shrink from the question. It is supposed, 
of course, that the question is asked with sincerity; other¬ 
wise the nurse may treat it with contempt. She need 
never have any hesitation in dismissing idle curiosity 
unsatisfied. She should always resent everything that 
savours of disrespect to religion, and never tolerate the 
ill-bred sneer or the impertinent trifling with that which 
to her is most sacred. 

When asked for information pertaining to matters of 
religion, the nurse should give it, if she can do so. If 
unable, she should simply state that she does not know, 
but will make enquiries. It would be well, indeed, if all 
Catholic nurses provided themselves with an answer to 
the ordinary difficulties that non-Catholics experience in 
regard to our Religion. This can be done quite easily. A 
small collection of the Catholic Truth Society’s 
pamphlets, or any small manual of catechetical instruc¬ 
tion, will be sufficient to supplement the knowledge of her 
religion which a nurse may be presumed to possess al¬ 
ready. Any priest on request will readily recommend to 
nurses suitable books on this subject. 

Here is another question that may cause some per¬ 
plexity. Is a nurse obliged to hear Mass on Sundays 
when to do so might inconvenience the family, though 
it would not interfere with her duties to her patient? 
The nurse in this case must make up her mind as to the 
amount of inconvenience she is likely to cause. If it is 
serious, the nurse is not obliged to hear Mass. Other- 



Non-Catholic Patients 


145 


wise, the nurse is entitled to stand out for her rights. 
Included in these is the opportunity to fulfill her religious 
obligations, where to do so would not interfere with her 
proper attention to her patient. It would be wise for 
the nurse to have the consent of the doctor, and to be 
able to quote his authority, when she asserts her absence 
will not be harmful to her patient. 

As to the law obliging persons to fast and abstinence, 
a nurse should have clear ideas as to what she is really 
bound. Ordinarily, a nurse should provide herself with 
a dispensation from fasting, for her work is such that 
usually she will not be able to fast. She may at times 
be engaged upon cases where the work is exceedingly 
light, and on such occasions she must follow her con¬ 
science. If in doubt she should ask for guidance. Nat¬ 
urally, the law of abstaining from flesh meat on certain 
days will cause most difficulty when the nurse is en¬ 
gaged in a non-Catholic family. Here she must observe 
the law where possible, and should have no hesitation in 
asking for what she needs. If, however, the proper food 
cannot be obtained without great inconvenience, the nurse 
is not bound to abstain. It will certainly make people 
respect the Catholic nurse if they observe in her an ear¬ 
nestness in her religious practices, so often lacking in 
those outside the Church. 

It may be accepted as a general truth that every edu¬ 
cated person knows that Catholics have certain duties 
and obligations binding upon them. The Catholic nurse 
need have no hesitation, therefore, in asserting her right 
to be allowed to fulfill these obligations. A little firmness 
at the beginning is always useful, and generally carries 
the day. At the same time, the nurse has to remember 



146 


The Catholic Nurse 


that she is not obliged to these duties, if their fulfillment 
means that she must neglect her patient in any way, or 
cause serious inconvenience to the other members of the 
household. While prepared to waive her rights where 
she sees a just reason, the Catholic nurse should never 
permit her Religion or its practices to be attacked or 
ridiculed in her presence. Strength of character and 
courage in putting down at once, as vulgar and intol¬ 
erable, the jest or sneer at her Religion, will win the 
respect of all. Such conduct is always edifying, while it 
may be at times the means of leading some soul to see 
the light. Instances are on record where this has been 
the case. 

In concluding these remarks, we must remind the 
Catholic nurse that at all times and in all places, it is 
incumbent upon her to manifest her virtues, so that others 
may learn the instincts which guide her in the fulfillment 
of her duties. To do otherwise would argue that she is 
indifferent to her religious principles, and to the welfare 
of the Church generally. In this resect, it is well to re¬ 
member what Mme. Swetchine says, “I only grant one 
privilege to Catholics, and that is to excel every one else.” 
This privilege it has been truly said becomes a duty in 
an age when everything comes under discussion, and 
when the value of material things predominates. Those 
who observe Catholics doing good more wisely and per- 
severingly than others, and the Church bringing forth 
fruits of such comfort as no other society can, must find 
it difficult to deny that she has within her principles and 
aids that are not of earth. The Catholic nurse must, 
therefore, embrace every opportunity of doing good 
which presents itself in the course of her work. She 



Non-Catholic Patients 


147 


must not only excel in the skill and knowledge proper to 
her profession, but in the practice of her religion, and 
the exercise of those virtues from which true nursing 
draws both its inspiration and its strength. By acting 
in this way, she will let her light shine before men, and 
show, far beyond the evidence of mere words, that she 
has a reason for the faith that is in her. 

A NURSE’S PRAYER 

Lord, help me to live from day to day, 

In such a self-forgetful way, 

That even when I kneel to pray 
My prayer shall be for “Others.” 

Help me in all the work I do 
To ever be sincere and true, 

And know that all I do for You 
Must needs be done for “Others.” 

Let self be crucified and slain 
And buried deep; and all in vain 
My efforts be to rise again 
Unless to live for “Others.” 

And when my work on earth is done, 

And my new work in Heaven’s begun, 

May I forget the crown I’ve won 
While thinking still of “Others.” 

“Others,” Lord, yes, “Others!” 

Let this my motto be. 

Help me to live for others 
That I may live for Thee. 


— St. Vincent's Leaves. 









































































































































































































































































































































































































